Dedicated
to Hispanic Heritage and Diversity IssuesSociety of Hispanic
Historical and Ancestral Research

Photo taken by Richard Maher
Public Affairs and
Communications, USPS
First Day Issue of Mendez Stamp
Gonzalo and Felicita Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School
September 14, 2007, Santa Ana, CaliforniaClick for more
information.

Editor: I was asked about the numbers in the content
areas. If the issue is printed out and the photos are included, these
numbers are approximate page numbers.

I share this web site and encourage others to educate themselves. Be proud of who they are and where they come from.
Robert Gonzalez gonzalesr@cg63.navy.milHello, Mimi: I will post a piece about your excellent Hispanic history web site on the
Washington-Rochambeau Revolutionary Route's blog for Monday, September 17. I was
very happy to stumble upon your site, quite by accident--and by serendipity!
Please see www.w3r-commons.org/blog
Thanks for all you do.

Through the Lands of American's Ancient
History connecting Florida, Mexico, and California. The Highway
will go from San Diego through, AZ, NM, TX, LA, MS, AL, GA to St.
Augustine/Jacksonville, Florida. Involvement is welcomed. For more
information on the Old Spanish Trail Project, click.

2007 National Hispanic Heritage Month theme
"Hispanic Americans: Making a
Positive Impact on American Society."

Washington, D.C. Event Honors Mendez v. Westminster School
District
Santa Ana, CA, Commemorative Mendez Stamp, 1st Day Issue
Westminster School District Proclamation Honors Mendez Stamp
Text of the Proclamation by the City of Westminster Westminster City Council Meeting, September 26th.
Still Separate, Still Unequal: 60 Years after Mendez v. Westminster
Stopping Segregation
National Public Radio:
Latino War Vets Changed World at Home, Abroad
Dr. Hector P. Garcia's legacy honored in Three Rivers, Texas
Let the Healing Begin, delivered by , Wanda
Garcia, Dr. Garcia's daughter
Veterans, teacher inducted into Mexican American
Hall of Fame
Postage stamp to honor Ruben Salazar

Mendez v. Westminster School
District, a 1947 federal court case that challenged racial segregation in
California schools. Seven years before Brown v. Board of Education, the United
States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit held that the segregation of
Mexican and Mexican American students into alleged "separate but equal
schools" was unconstitutional. Several organizations joined the appellate
case as amicus curiae, including the NAACP, represented by Thurgood Marshall.
That same year, California Governor, and future Chief Justice of the United
States Supreme Court, Earl Warren signed laws repealing the last remaining
school segregation statutes in California.

The Federal Triangle Partnership, consisting of the U.S. Department of Commerce,
the U.S. Agency for International Development, U.S. Customs and Border
Protection, and the U.S. Postal Service on September 20th observed its National Hispanic
Heritage Month event on September 20th by honoring the Mendez v. Westminster School
District case on in Washington, D.C.. The event was held
in the Pavilion Room of the Ronald Reagan Building
& International Trade Center.

The keynote speaker was Sandra Robbie, Emmy-winning writer/producer of the
documentary Mendez vs. Westminster: For All the Children / Para Todos los Ninos.
The U.S. Postal Service will be issuing a Mendez commemorative stamp during
September, 2007. Sylvia Mendez, the daughter of plaintiffs, Gonzalo Mendez, a
Mexican immigrant, and Felicitas Mendez, a Puerto Rican woman, will also be part
of the program.

Ms. Robbie said, "this is a historical event, not to be
used for political purposes". She also emphasized that we should take
advantage of the new stamp to encourage Hispanics to finish college. There is
nothing in the way to stop them.

Lt. to rt: Sandra Robbie, Producer of Mendez v. Westminster: For all the Children.Seated Sylvia Mendez, daughter of Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez. Behind her
is Yeda Baker, Arlington Coordinator, Romney for President National Hispanic
Steering committee who kindly sent this photo, taken by_____

Editor: I live in the city Westminster, where 60 years ago,
the first effective, long-standing legalities took
place that desegregated California schools, and eventually formed the foundation
for the Brown v. Board of Education, Topeka, Kansas ruling.

Recognizing the
opportunity of promoting the history of early civil rights efforts by Latinos,
and with the support of the Westminster LULAC Council #3017, I contacted our
State senator, Lou Correa, area Supervisor, Janet Nguyen, Mayor, Margery Rice,
and Westminster School District Superintendent, Sharon Nordheim. All
prepared proclamations celebrating the issuing of the Mendez v. Westminster
stamp.

The Commemorative Stamp First Day of issue Mendez v.
Westminster School District ceremony was held at the
Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School in the city of
Santa Ana on September 14, 2007.

Representatives from Washington, D.C. of the United States Postal Service
included Thurgood Marshall, Jr., Member,
Board of Governors, United States Postal Service, David E. Failor, Executive
Director, Stamp Services, Darlene Suarez Casey, Program Manager, Events &
Promotions, Yvonne Yoerger, Media Relations Representative, Public Affairs and
Communication.

Honored guests and dignitaries included the Honorable Loretta Sanchez,
United States House of Representatives, Gladys Limon, Mexican American Legal
Defense and Educational Fund.

Sylvia Mendez spoke and a granddaughter of Gonzalo and Felicitas,
Mistala Mendez-Mooney read a poem. The Mendez Fundamental Advanced School
Band played under the direction of Director Sabrina Green and the Santa Ana High
School ROTC Color Guard also participated. It was a wonderful, uplifting
event. The auditorium was filled. Only the students that were
participating were able to attend. However, United States Postal Service gave
each child a Mendez stamp pin, a token to always remember that education is a
precious right.

On September 13th, the Westminster School District passed a proclamation
in recognition of the Mendez case. Special guest was Gonzalo Mendez,
Jr. welcomed with a standing ovation.

PROCLAMATIONby the City of WestminsterUNVEILING OF UNITED STATES POSTAL STAMP
IN HONOR OF:

"MENDEZ V. WESTMINSTER CASE"

WHEREAS, Sixty years
ago on April 14, 1947, the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San
Francisco ruled that the California schools could not segregate on the basis of
national origin in the Mendez v. Westminster School District of Orange County et
al; and

WHEREAS, Felicitas and Gonzalo
Mendez changed the history of the State of California and the nation's education
system for the better; and

WHEREAS, their efforts were
critical to laying the legal groundwork needed by Thurgood Marshall in his
landmark Brown v. The Board of Education of Topeka, Kansas; and

WHEREAS, the Mendez
family's actions led to the breakdown of then legal racial discrimination,
"Separate but Equal", existing within the State of California and the
nation, resulting schools opening to all races, creeds and colors; and

WHEREAS, personal sacrifice
and determination were shared by the entire Mendez family, including Gonzalo
Mendez, Jr., Sylvia Mendez and Geronimo Mendez; and

WHEREAS, Sixty years ago
while our World War II Latina and Latino veterans were fighting for freedom
overseas, the Mendez family was fighting at the home front for civil and equal
rights, and neither endeavor should ever be forgotten.

NOW,THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED
that I, Margie L. Rice, Mayor of the City of Westminster, on the behalf of Mayor
Pro Tem Kermit Marsh, and Council Members Frank G. Fry, Andy Quach, and Tri Ta,
join the State of California and the nation in supporting the unveiling of the
United States Postal Service's stamp in honor of the "Mendez v. Westminster
Case", and recognize the Mendez family and their contribution to the
education of children in the State of California, as well as children in our
nation.

In 1943, Sylvia Mendez went to school with other
Mexican Americans. She wasn't allowed to attend the whites-only school
in her neighborhood.

Schools all across the nation were segregated and it
took a lawsuit by Sylvia's parents, Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez, and
others to desegregate public schools in Orange County. The 9th Circuit
U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled on April 14, 1947 that
school districts could not segregate on the basis of race.

The ruling and how it influenced other cases —
including Brown vs. Board of Education — was the topic of a Sept. 18
panel discussion "Still Separate, Still Unequal: 60 Years After
Mendez vs. Westminster" on campus.

The panelists — Orange County Superior Court Judge
Frederick P. Aguirre; retired Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge
Paul Egly; Mikel Hogan, chair and professor of human services and field
director for the Office of Civil Rights and State Department of
Education; and Michael Matsuda, co-author of a children's book about the
Mendez vs. Westminster case and a trustee of the North Orange County
Community College District — spoke about the historic case and its
relevance today.

“America has been a country that has struggled with
its identity,” Matsuda said. “It comes down to how you treat
others…. In the Mendez case, the parents only considered what was
right to do.”

Matsuda called the case “a truly heroic American
story” and challenged audience members to call their legislators to
demand the case be taught to children as part of their grade-school
curriculum.

Sixty years ago, more than 500,000 Mexican Americans
fought in World War II as U.S. soldiers, Aguirre said. Mexican Americans
were good enough to fight and die alongside Anglos, yet their children
were not good enough to go to the same schools, he said.

There “was no reason for segregation,” Egly said,
but “California was and still is a racist state.”

“People are afraid of people who are different, and
until we get over that fear, we are going to have this problem,”
Aguirre added. “The equality that we’re working for is equality of
opportunity.”

In light of a recent UCLA civil rights project that
found schools are re-segregating faster than they have since the 1990s
when Supreme Court cases started dismantling desegregation policies,
Hogan said raising awareness in schools and calling on elected officials
to fund desegregation programs are “important to social justice and
equality.”

The Supreme Court’s 5-4 decision in June,
restricting any action by school districts to diversify schools,
“resurfaced the need to educate our community about the Mendez case
that set a precedent for the Brown vs. Board of Education to desegregate
schools through our nation,” said Mark Kamimura-Jiménez, campus
director of educational partnerships and one of the event’s
organizers. “Only 60 years ago, California desegregated its schools;
however, today we are faced with new challenges in our schools as
diversity remains an empirical component to an enriched learning
environment.”

The panelists, Kamimura-Jiménez said, engaged
attendees “in a critical public dialogue on the historical and present
issues of segregation in our schools and communities, and encouraged us
to think about the implications of the Mendez decision.”

Hena Cuevas, a reporter on KCET’s “Life and
Times” program, moderated the panel, which commenced after an
unveiling of a new U.S. Post Office commemorative stamp honoring the
60th anniversary of the Mendez case.

The panel discussion, sponsored by Associated Students
Inc., Student Affairs and Public Affairs and Government Relations, was
part of last week's Constitution Day activities.

Sent by Dr. Silas Abrego
http://campusapps.fullerton.edu/news/inside/2007/mendez.html

In summary, Judge Fredrick Aguirre said that although the laws of desegregation are in effect, segregation is effectively still in place, created by the economic
differences of families living within schools' districts. Varied solutions were discussed such as the Dream Act, charter schools, open school boundaries, and internet
classes, such as advanced placement classes, usually not available in low income areas.

National Public Radio
Latino War Vets Changed World at Home and Abroad, 5 Parts series
Richard Gonzales, National Correspondent
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=2100569
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14579935
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=14600136
GO TO www.npr.org click on
Richard Gonzales for full series

Left Richard Gonzales, National Correspondent with
National Public Radio interviewed WW II Army veteran throughout
California. [Editor: I had the fun of watching Richard in action.]
Here Richard is recording a few parting comments by Orange County
resident, Ben De Leon. Mr. De Leon entered as a private in 1942,
but by 1946 was serving as Infantry Unit Commander.

Upon returning home, Mr. De Leon found a job with the County of
Orange. He began in an entry level position. He moved to the
Claims Division of the Orange county Veterans Service Office.
Thirty-five years
later, he retired as Director of the Orange County Veterans Service
Office, an accomplishment that identifies Mr. De Leon as the very first
Latino to serve in an executive management position for the County of
Orange, California.

After the attack on Pearl Harbor in 1941, as many as 500,000
Latinos - predominantly Mexican-Americans - answered President Roosevelt's
call to war.

Their service - and their return home - not only changed their lives, it
created the building blocks for ending discriminative policies against
minorities in the United States after the war ended.

For many Mexican-Americans, serving in the war was the first time they had
participated in mainstream America. Like African-Americans, most Latinos
throughout the Southwest experienced regular discrimination and segregation.
But unlike African-Americans, Latinos fought in integrated units. Alfred Aguirre
of Placencia, Calif., served with the Army Corps of
Engineers, 96th Army Division. He earned a bronze star for bravery fighting
in Okinawa. But when he returned home, he learned that the local schools
were still segregated.

"We were all together. We lived together. We fight together. Everybody was
there - Italians, Jews, whatever. We got along fine," Aguirre recalls. "And
I said this was stupid to come home where I was born and be separated! And I
said I'm not going to have my child go to school and be separated like that!"

Aguirre's son, Frederick, is now a Superior Court judge in Orange County,
Calif. His father led Latino war veterans who rallied to challenge school
segregation after the war. Fredrick Aguirre says the action Latino war veterans took led to the first federal court decision that declared that
separate schools were inherently unequal.

"That busted up the Mexican-American schools here in Orange County. And it
set the precedent seven years later for Brown vs. the Board of Education in
1954," Aguirre says.

Mario Garcia, a history professor at the University of California at Santa
Barbara, says Aguirre's generation of Latino World War II veterans pressed
for civil rights not as a broad national movement, but at the grass roots.
Indeed, Alfred Aguirre founded a group called "Veterans and Citizens of
Placencia" and he was eventually elected to the Placencia city council.

Like Aguirre, Joe Juarez says that serving in the war was life-altering for
his family. The Orange County resident was seriously wounded fighting in the
Philippines. His brother, Maurice, a tank commander, was killed in Germany.
A third brother, Raymond, was stationed stateside as a military policeman
guarding POWs.

Today, Joe Juarez doesn't like talking about the war. But he will say that
when he returned, he realized he had changed in ways he never expected. "Because of the war I became a fighter, I was a winner and because of that I
became a better man," he says.

This past week I went to Three
Rivers, Texas to participate in a ceremony honoring my father Dr.
Hector P. Garcia. Three Rivers was where the Hispanic Civil Rights
movement began. Where Dr. Hector got the national visibility that
enabled him to be an activist in the movement.

The catalyst was the refusal of a
funeral home director in Three Rivers, Texas to allow the family
of Pvt. Felix Longoria the use of the funeral home. I had
reservations about going to Three Rivers, considering the past
history my father had with the community. But my belief that the
type of energy you send out is returned to you prevailed. So, I
agreed to speak in Three Rivers, TX. I was determined to send out
healing to all parties.

On Sept 19, 2007, I drove up to
the Three Rivers city hall about 10:00 am. Some American G.I.
Forum members readily distinguishable by the American G.I. Forum
cap were talking to a tall man. I got out of my car and approached
the men. They were Santiago Hernandez, Willie Perez and Mayor John
Liska.

The Pvt. Felix Longoria Chapter with Three Rivers Mayor James
Liska.

After the preliminary
introductions, Mayor Liska wanted to talk to me privately. Before
he had an opportunity to talk, I assured him that I was in Three
Rivers, Texas to honor my father and to bring words of healing for
all the players in the Felix Longoria drama. Mayor Liska is a
deeply religious man and he agreed with me that the time was at
hand for the healing to begin.

The experience was one of the
most rewarding in my life. I saw Mexican American business owners,
policemen and news reporters. I was introduced to the city council
members. Three of the city council members were Mexican American.
My father’s work bore fruit and this was the evidence. I was
deeply gratified and proud of my father that he made the
sacrifices to make this possible. It was a good thing.

Mayor Liska, Honored guests and
dear friends. Thank you for joining me today to honor my father on
this historical occasion in Three Rivers, Texas.

Sixty years ago, a young Dr.
Hector P. Garcia had a vision of a world without barriers for his
people. He had returned from service in WWII after experiencing
how different life was in other countries where discrimination did
not exist for Mexican Americans. He returned to our country during
a time when a Mexican American could only aspire to menial
employment a life of poverty and no upward mobility.

Segregation existed everywhere,
in the hospitals, the workplace and the schools. Hospitals placed
Mexican American patients in segregated wards. When the segregated
wards were full the hospitals placed, the patients in the halls
when the Anglo wards were empty. Mexican Americans could not
afford to pay for health care. So they died. Mexican American
infants had a high rate of mortality and tuberculosis was rampant
among the adults. The school situation was dismal with Mexican
American students achieving third grad education before dropped
out of grade school.

The situation for veterans
returning from the Service was not helping either. They kept
turning down medical treatment and benefit claims for these
veterans. A claim filed by my father was turned down also.

When I was a child, I recall
traveling with Dr. Hector and Willie Davila and Sonny Saavedra to
organize GI Forum chapters in the state. We would drive for what
seemed an endless journey to a rally held in some remote towns
with the names of Mathis, Beeville and Alice. A parish priest from
the local our Lady of Guadalupe church arranged the meetings. At
the meetings, Dr. Hector would deliver his message to the crowds,
"we don’t want handouts. All we want is opportunity."

He dedicated his life and energy
to improving the quality of life for his people. He healed people’s
bodies with his medicine and their souls with his caring. Through
his leadership, my father changed the destiny of all Mexican
Americans by securing opportunities through educational, legal and
political means. For this purpose, Dr. Hector Garcia founded the
American GI Forum.

Papa would always say if you want
credibility, you have to speak with an organization behind you, or
people will think you are a fool. To show that he had an
organization behind him was the reason he wore his American GI
Forum cap "cachucha" and demand that all American GI
Forum members wear their hats.

Dr. Hector left us the legacy of
the American GI Forum. He knew a strong organization could effect
positive change. In turn, our responsibility is to ensure that the
American GI Forum remains a respected, constant and dynamic force
in the community. We cannot be content with yesterday’s triumphs
but must grow by adapting to new directions while building on past
techniques and strategies.

No meeting in Three Rivers, Texas
would be complete without mention of the Felix Longoria Story. We
are still discussing the many versions of what happened over 50
years ago in Three Rivers, TX. Sadly, the result was a veteran’s
family was denied the use of the funeral home.

I believe nothing happens by
accident and all events have a higher purpose. One afternoon as I
was driving down Lake Austin Blvd. in Austin, Texas, the purpose
came to me. This event gave national visibility to the
discrimination against Mexican Americans in Texas. If it had not
been for the national visibility generated by this event, Edna
Ferber would have never written "Giant" the story of the
Mexican American experience in south Texas. Thus, the civil rights
movement may have been delayed by 20 years if these events had not
transpired.

We are still frozen in time and
bound to this incident because we have not forgiven one another.
Before we can move forward, we must heal the wounds of our past.
Today I ask that we unite in love and understanding, honor the key
players in the Three Rivers Incident, and move forward. Therefore,
I want to honor all the players in this drama, Private Felix
Longoria for making the ultimate sacrifice in giving his life for
his country, the Felix Longoria Family, the Kennedy family. Last
of all I would like to recognize my father for doing the right
thing and my family for their courage.

Sarah Posas, my baby sitter. Thank you for your bravery and
courage and that of all the Longoria family for surviving what was
a difficult episode in your lives.

I would like to recognize Beatriz
Longoria and the members of the Longoria family for their courage
and steadfastness in having to live through difficult and
dangerous times.

I would like to acknowledge the members of the Kennedy family. I
know they suffered as well.

Today, sixty years later we meet
in front of city hall. What a contrast to the past when secret
meetings were held in fields at night. Upward mobility and higher
education is attainable for Mexican Americans. We can now aspire
to obtain the American dream because of the vision of Dr. Hector
P. Garcia.

The best tribute that we can give
Dr. Hector is to continue his work and to tell his story to the
nation. I ask your help to gain Dr. Hector the national
recognition he deserves. I ask that you contact your elected
officials to have a national and state holiday named for Dr.
Hector. In addition, purchase the Don Brown’s AGIF and Justice
for My People documentaries and give one to each school district
in your respective states.

So thank you Dr. Hector for
raising us up. For in opening the doors of opportunity for Mexican
Americans, you liberated everyone. You are the "wind beneath
our wings." Thank you.

STOCKTON, California - Two military veterans and a veteran
of the classroom will be the three "unsung heroes" to be
inducted Saturday into theMexican American Hall of Fame in
Stockton.

"There are certain individuals involved in the community
that get plenty of notoriety," said Richard Rios, a member of
the committee that selected inductees Julian Sepulveda Jr. of
Stockton, Maria Ramirez-McGuire of Tracy and Oscar Chapa of
Stockton. "But there are also a lot of unsung heroes, whose
names don't appear in the newspaper or aren't involved in politics.

"The Mexican Hall of Fame is reaching out to those unsung
heroes that really need to be recognized that many of us don't know
much about."

Rios nominated Julian Sepulveda Jrfor the community
service category. Sepulveda, a Marine veteran, is past
president of Stockton's Cursillo Movement, a social activist group
of Catholic congregates started in the early 1960s. Sepulveda
has volunteered in a youth prison ministry, taught catechism and
confirmation classes, and served as a lector at St. Gertrude's and
Presentation Catholic churches. "I feel that I'm
emulating my father, because he did so much for the community,"
Sepulveda said.

"I'm most proud of is being a role model for youth in
finishing education," he said. Owner of Sepulveda's Truck
Painting & Body Shop in Stockton, Sepulveda went back to college
at 55 to finish his vocational training.

In 1983, Sepulveda joined the Private Industry Council board of
directors, and he later joined San Joaquin County Workforce
Investment Board. Recently, he became a volunteer for the county's
mediation board, an assistance program for settling disputes.

Maria Ramirez-McGuire will be inducted in the education
category. Ramirez-McGuire retired last year from Tracy High
School after 30 years as an educator. She taught reading, basic
math, bilingual and regular U.S. history, American government,
economics and Spanish. "I fell in love with education and
with the love of learning. That's what I'm going to miss,"
Ramirez-McGuire said.

While at Tracy High, her student involvement did not stop at
teaching. Ramirez-McGuire advocated for teachers and for lowering
class sizes. She counseled at-risk students for two years and served
as the adviser to the Movimiento Estudiantil Chicano de Aztlan Club,
or MEChA, for 25 years, organizing field trips to university
campuses. MEChA is a Latino student body organization that promotes
higher education and Latino culture preservation.

"I think I feel most proud of being MEChA adviser,"
Ramirez-McGuire said. "That was where I did the most for my
students, especially students who were limited in going to
college." Also, she developed the first girls soccer team at
Tracy High School and coached girls basketball, volleyball and
softball. Ramirez-McGuire received the John Williams and Character
Counts awards in 2005, presented by the California Teacher
Association for her involvement with students and parents.

Oscar Chapawill enter the hall as humanitarian of the
year.

Chapa, an Army veteran, has operated Oscar's Catering since 1940.
Chapa helped provide lunches for thousands of Su Salud health fair
volunteers in the late 1990s. And, through St. Mary's Dining Hall,
he volunteered to drive truckloads of donated food and clothes to
Mexico.

As a member of the San Joaquin County Sheriff's Air Posse, Chapa
flew his personal airplane when needed by the Sheriff's Office.

Sepulveda, Ramirez-McGuire and Chapa will bring the total number
of hall of famers to 111 since its inception in 1990. The hall of
fame was started by Veto Ramirez in 1990 to recognize people making
significant contributions for the advancement of Latinos, have
become role models for youth, encouraged early involvement in
community affairs or preserved Hispanic cultures. Ramirez is a
retired counselor from Edison High School, where he worked for 36
years. He also started the Edison Hall of Fame and the Stockton
Mexican Sports Hall of Fame. Ramirez is a University of the Pacific
graduate, and he played professional baseball with the Stockton
Ports and the Spokane Indians.

Contact reporter Jennie Rodriguez at (209) 943-8564 or jrodriguez@recordnet.com.
Mexican American Hall of Fame was held at River Mill, 1672 W. Bowman
Road, French Camp
Information: (209) 952-0256 or (209) 472-7892

Editor:
I am proud to say that Oscar Chapa is my dear uncle, one of the
kindest men I have every known, noble and self-sacrificing. To
the left are some of my first cousins that were able to
attend the event

The Los Angeles Times, September 25, 2007
Postage stamp to honor Salazar
The journalist, who was killed during a riot in L.A., is honored for 'giving voice to those who didn't have one.'

Ruben Salazar died Aug. 29, 1970, in East Los Angeles. He was 42.
By Louis Sahagun, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
September 25, 2007
In honor of trailblazing newsman Ruben Salazar's relentless efforts to chronicle the complexity of race relations in Los Angeles, the U.S. Postal Service in 2008 will issue a commemorative stamp of the former Los Angeles Times reporter and columnist.

"He was a groundbreaker for Latinos in this country, but his work spoke to all Americans," Postmaster Gen. John E. Potter said Monday. "By giving voice to those who didn't have one, Ruben Salazar worked to improve life for everybody. His reporting of the Latino experience in this country set a standard that's rarely met even today."
It was the way Salazar died that made him a martyr to many in the Mexican American community. His head was shattered by a heavy, torpedo-shaped tear gas projectile fired by a sheriff's deputy during a riot Salazar was covering in East Los Angeles on Aug. 29, 1970.

Salazar was 42.

"Ruben Salazar put an indelible stamp on the profession of journalism in Los Angeles," said Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa. "From the battlefields of Vietnam to the streets of East L.A., he reported the news with a rare combination of toughness and humanity. It's great to finally see his legacy honored on a national level with the issuance of this postage stamp."

Tens of millions of the first-class 41-cent stamps will be issued some time next year, Postal Service officials said. It will be among five stamps honoring U.S. journalists to be officially unveiled in Washington on Oct. 5.

"Ruben Salazar was a courageous and pioneering journalist, and we were honored to have him as a colleague at The Times," said Los Angeles Times Publisher David Hiller. "This commemorative stamp is a fine tribute to his legacy that lives on in the communities he served so resolutely."

Parks, schools, libraries and highways have been named after Salazar, and books, murals, plays and films have been inspired by his life.

Media and corporate foundations each year donate millions of dollars to honor Salazar through scholarships and awards.

Some Mexican Americans called him la voz de la Raza, the voice of the people, and his often blunt columns spoke to the desires and frustrations of a community. The year he died, he wrote:

"Chicanos feel cheated. They want to effect change. . .

"That is why Mexican American activists flaunt the barrio word Chicano -- as an act of defiance and a badge of honor. Mexican Americans, though large in numbers, are so politically impotent that in Los Angeles, where the country's largest single concentration of Spanish-speaking live, they have no one of their own on the City Council."

When told that Salazar was to be honored with a stamp, Ray Reyes, principal of Ruben Salazar High School, a continuation campus of 260 students in Pico Rivera, said, "Awesome! I always wear my Ruben Salazar staff shirt on Fridays, and it's amazing how many people know who he was -- and I'm talking about students who weren't even born when he was writing his columns."

Postal Service officials said it was supporters like Olga Briseño, director of the University of Arizona's Media, Democracy & Policy Initiative, who made the idea of a commemorative stamp a reality.

Over the past two years, Briseño and a small army of Latino studies students, elected officials, organizations and entertainers, including members of the band Los Lobos, collected 10 pounds worth of petitions and resolutions, which were dispatched to the Postal Service.

"We never gave up," Briseño said. "We anticipated every possible way they could turn us down, then filled in those gaps."

Salazar was 8 months old when his parents moved from Juarez to El Paso, where he became a naturalized citizen. He attended the University of Texas at El Paso and earned a journalism degree.

He got his start in 1955 at the El Paso Herald-Post. In 1963, four years after he stepped into the Los Angeles Times newsroom, Salazar won awards for a hard-fisted series examining problems and issues that still plague the Latino community today: substandard education, disproportionate high school dropout rates, immigration and the search for identity in U.S. society.

As a Times correspondent in the 1960s, Salazar covered the Dominican Republic, the Vietnam War and Mexico.

In 1969 he returned to Los Angeles to report on the Mexican American community.

In January 1970, he left The Times to become news director for the Spanish-language television station KMEX. He was labeled a left-leaning Latino agitator by police, but that was an unlikely description of the man who had married a white woman, lived in an Orange County home with a swimming pool and called himself "middle class Establishment."

On a sweltering, smog-shrouded Saturday afternoon, about 20,000 marchers who had gathered in East Los Angeles to protest the Vietnam War clashed with sheriff's deputies. When the smoke cleared, millions of dollars worth of property had been damaged, 60 people were injured and three people were dead, including Salazar.

His death jolted those who admired him. Among them was Frank Sotomayor, a reporter with Army Stars and Stripes, who had arranged to meet Salazar for a job interview.

"On the day I was discharged from the Army, I opened the San Francisco Examiner and saw a story on the bottom of the front page saying Salazar had been killed," recalled Sotomayor, associate director of USC Annenberg's Institute for Justice and Journalism.

"As Mexican Americans," Sotomayor said, "we felt he spoke for us -- that he reflected what was in our heads and in our hearts, even if we didn't necessarily agree with every one of his opinions. I think this stamp will give him the wider recognition he deserves as a pioneer of journalism."

Inspired by Salazar's legacy, Sotomayor and the dozen Latino journalists working in Los Angeles at the time formed a professional organization, the California Chicano News Media Assn., to encourage other ethnic minorities to pursue careers in journalism. Over the years, the group, which has since changed it name to CCNMA Latino Journalists of California, has awarded nearly $700,000 in scholarships to 680 students and sponsored 29 journalism opportunity conferences.

Briseño, the Arizona journalism professor, had worked closely on the stamp project with the Salazar family, which gave the Postal Service permission to use Salazar's image.

In an interview, Lisa Salazar Johnson, 46, one of Salazar's three children, said, "When the Postal Service sent me a copy of the color image they planned to use, I cried. To see the '41 cents' on a real live U.S. stamp with Dad's picture on it made me utterly proud of his accomplishments.

"However, I think he would have laughed at this honor as ridiculous," she said. "Then he would have been deeply humbled by it."

louis.sahagun@latimes.com

Journalist Ruben Salazar, right, meets with Robert Kennedy in 1968. His postage stamp will be issued next year.

Photo Collage by Augie Lerma
Quote: Angelo Falcon, National Institute for Latino Policy, New York
Latino GIs earned place in 'The War'
National Assn of Hispanic Journalists Honors Dr.Rivas Rivas-Rodriguez
Preserving the Legacy of Hispanics of the WWII Generation
La Guerra - The War: A Film and Panel Discussion
Big sponsors flank 'The War'

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Reaction to Latinos not being included in PBS "THE WAR" were
seen across the nation. These photos were taken on September
23rd in San Francisco. Defend the Honor activity, in front of
KQED at 16th and Mariposa, right in the Mission.

"Of
course, by blotting us out this way, Burns and PBS only feed into
the anti-immigrant and anti-Hispanic sentiment so rampant in this
country today," said Angelo Falcon, president and founder of
the National Institute for Latino Policy in New York City.-- From
New York Daily News' columnist Albor Ruiz, 9-16-07

Burns excuses . .

"The
only thing more lame than leaving out Hispanics were the excuses they
came up with for how it happened. First, Burns said that he had
concentrated on four U.S. cities and suggested that maybe there weren't
Hispanics in any of them; that might have been believable if one of the
cities wasn't Sacramento, which has a large Hispanic population. Next,
Burns claimed that Hispanics hadn't approached him with their stories;
but that doesn't explain why he didn't go out and collect those stories
himself, the way he did with other groups that he was sure not to leave
out. And finally, Burns suggested that Hispanics go off and make their
own documentary; not a bad idea, but one that doesn't absolve him of his
responsibility to produce films for public television that actually
reflect the viewing public. "
Extract: RUBEN NAVARRETTE JR. THE UNION-TRIBUNEFor some, 'the war
never ends',

September
26, 2007

Latino GIs earned place in 'The War'

By Marcos Bretón, Sacramento Bee Columnist
September 26, 2007

Before there was "The War," there was the battle over the initial exclusion of Mexican American voices from Ken Burns' epic documentary about World War II.
It wasn't racist. It was typical.

In history and popular culture, the stories of Mexican Americans -- and Latinos in general -- often are relegated to the fine print of mainstream storytelling.

It's part of living in a country where race is wrongly defined as black and white. And from a storytelling point of view, the Mexican American soldiers of World War II were harder to define in narrative terms than, say, Japanese Americans.

In the capital of California, we know about internment -- how Japanese American families from Sacramento and beyond were locked up on our soil during the war.

"What people don't understand is that before World War II, Latinos were invisible. ... (They) were almost like foreigners in their own country," Bill Lansford, a Latino and World War II veteran ultimately featured in "The War," told the Los Angeles Times.

We also know that many young Japanese American men went to war for the United States while trying to "prove" they were Americans. For some, that included denying their Japanese roots.

However, it wasn't unusual to see GIs with Spanish surnames who fought for Uncle Sam but kept part of the Mexican eagle in their hearts.

That embracing of two cultures brought its own set of problems -- now as then. "My mother was spanked by the Mercy nuns for speaking Spanish," said Diana Salgado Zuniga, whose family was deeply involved in the local war effort during World War II.

Her grandmother -- Enriqueta Andazola -- led a group of fierce women called the Mexican War Mothers, whose members were of Mexican ancestry but whose boys fought and died for Old Glory.
It marked one of the first times locally that Mexican Americans asserted themselves publicly while stating allegiance to the American flag in a most profound way.

"My grandmother loved this country, she embraced the best parts of the United States," Zuniga said. Today, the Stars and Stripes flies at Zuniga's east Sacramento home -- while the strains of Spanish-language music fill the house.

In the wake of the Burns "War" controversy, she eyes a family picture with pride: Her grandmother flanked by three sons who fought in World War II; another who fought in Korea; and a son-in-law, Zuniga's father, who also fought in World War II.
One uncle named Edgardo carried the middle name of Lincoln, after the American president. An Uncle Paul was at Omaha Beach and the Battle of the Bulge, one of the bloodiest ever.

"He lost his mind in the war," Zuniga says today. The family endured the toll of war without complaint, because that's what families did back then.

By most accounts, up to 500,000 Latinos fought in World War II -- with Mexican Americans the largest subgroup. Thirteen won the prestigious Medal of Honor.
It's a shame such a presence merited only an afterthought from Burns, who included some Mexican American voices in response to protests.

Some dismissed the protests as whining, but that's wrong. These stories deserve to be told because these people were there, their blood just as red.
The Spanish word for them is Patriotas.

Sent by Dr. Carlos Muñoz, Jr.

National Association of Hispanic Journalists Honors the Best of 2006
Prestigious ñ and Journalism Awards Salute Leadership, Outstanding
Coverage of Latinos, Immigration;
Awards Gala Set for Oct. 4 in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C. - Maggie Rivas-Rodriguez, a journalism professor who
helped spearhead a grassroots campaign for meaningful inclusion of
Latinos in the upcoming Ken Burns' documentary titled THE WAR, and Maria
Burns Ortiz, a college soccer columnist with ESPN.com and one of the
newer Latino voices in the country's newsrooms, are among those to
receive the prestigious ñ Awards next month from the National
Association of Hispanic Journalists.
Rivas-Rodriguez, from the University of Texas at Austin, and Burns
Ortiz will receive the Leadership Award and the Emerging Journalist of
the Year Award, respectively.
Others honored with ñ Awards include Dianne Solis of The Dallas Morning
News for her thoughtful and sincere coverage of immigration, Gary
Coronado of The Palm Beach Post for his stunning photographs chronicling
the physical risks Central Americans take jumping trains to go north and
enter the U.S., and Rebecca Aguilar of KDFW-TV Fox 4 in Dallas for her
reporting work that gives a voice to those who typically don't have one
in the media. They will receive the Frank del Olmo Print Journalist of
the Year Award, the Photojournalist of the Year Award and the Broadcast
Journalist of the Year Award, respectively.
All the Award recipients and winners in 14 other categories will be
honored at the 22nd Annual Noche de Triunfos Journalism Awards Gala on
Oct. 4 at the Capital Hilton in Washington, D.C., NAHJ's signature event
during Hispanic Heritage month. Gloria Campos Brown, news anchor at
WFAA-TV Dallas, the evening's honorary gala chair, and master of
ceremonies Antonio Mora, anchor at CBS 2 News Chicago, will host the
event attended by journalists, Latino leaders and the community at
large.

Preserving the
Legacy of Hispanics of the WWII GenerationConstitution and Citizenship Day
Golden West College, Huntington Beach, CA
September 18: East L.A. Marine: The Untold True Story of Guy
Gabaldon
Shown twice by producer Steve Rubin, each session was followed by
a panel discussion on Preserving the Legacy of Hispanics of the
WWII Generation, moderated by Dr. Monte Perez. Panelists at
one or both of the events were documentary producer Steve Rubin, Dr. Maggie
Rivas-Rodriguez, Gus
Chavez, Ben De Leon, and Mimi Lozano.

Dr. Silas H. Abrego, Associate Vice President
for Student Affairs, Photo
Above
opened the event by presenting a historical overview of the
military contributions of Hispanics, since colonial periods,
sighting examples.

After watching the first half
of the documentary East LA Marine: the Untold True Story of Guy
Gabaldon, moderated by Dr. Alexandro Gradilla, Chicano/a
Studies Professor, the panelists each presented their perspective
on the absence of proper and just representation of the
Hispanic/Latino contributions to WWII.
Panelists:

Hollywood Reporter, Sept 10, 2007
Extract: Big sponsors flank 'War'
By Gail Schiller, NEW YORK -- PBS has launched its largest marketing and
promotional campaign ever for Ken Burns' 15-hour, seven-episode
World War II documentary "The War," entering the
engagement with General Motors, Bank of America and
Anheuser-Busch.

PBS and its corporate sponsors are spending some
$10 million on
media including significant broadcast, cable and cinema ads from
PBS as well as radio, print, online and billboard ads from PBS and
its corporate partners, who also helped finance the production
costs of the docu.

The campaign also includes such nontraditional marketing
tactics as tune-in messaging on 25 million oranges and 623,000
dozen-egg boxes -- both items were rationed during WWII -- on
17,000 Bank of America ATM screens and on Budweiser beer cans and
packaging distributed at military bases nationwide.

An outreach campaign to WWII veterans and their families by
more than 100 local PBS stations nationwide to record their
wartime experiences as part of the Library of Congress' Veterans
History Project also is expected to raise awareness for the docu.

"Without a doubt, this is the largest marketing effort
ever undertaken by PBS corporate underwriters, which is also a
complement to this unprecedented national effort by PBS,"
said Lesli Rotenberg, senior vp brand management and promotion at
PBS. "It goes beyond just dollars. It's the most effort in
terms of creative energy, mobilization of people and resources to
support a program on PBS.

General Motors has been the sole corporate sponsor of Burns'
films since his acclaimed "The Civil War" docu in 1987.

Defend
the Honor Campaign
National Association of Hispanic Journalists (NAHJ)
National Hispanic Media Coalition (NHMC)
National Institute for Latino Policy (NiLP)
National Latino Council on Alcohol and Tobacco Prevention (LCAT)
National Latino Media Council

The Ken Burns 15-hour WWII documentary, “The War,” on PBS
generated an unprecedented coming together of Americans of Mexican,
Puerto Rican, Cuban and other Latino and Hispanic heritages who fought
to include Latinos’ role in securing freedom for our Nation. Through
efforts of the Latino community, Ken Burns finally included 28
additional minutes, including interviews with two Mexican American
veterans and one Native American.

In this Latino Town Hall meeting, the public is invited to join Defend
the Honor founders Maggie Rivas-Rodríguez and Gus Chavez
and others to review how “The War” handled the Latino experience in
WWII.

Together, we will begin to answer several questions:Was this inclusion meaningful enough? Was it tokenism? What of Ken
Burns’ and PBS’ “blind spot” when it comes to Latinos? What can
we all do, collectively and individually, to assure that Latinos’
contributions to our country are duly noted in books, documentaries,
movies and the news media? What is the significance of this movement for
the future of the Latino community in the U.S., and of this country as a
whole?
Where do we go from here?

CAUTION: DO NOT PURCHASE.
HARMFUL TO THE SPIRIT & MEMORY OF OUR WWII LATINO AND LATINA VETERANS

Friends,
Released for sale today: THE WAR Cost per book $50 DVD $100
Earlier today, September 11, I bought the book THE WAR An Intimate History 1941-1945 by Ken Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward, a 451 page publication with hundreds of photos, illustrations and extensive bibliography. The coverage given to White Americans, Japanese Americans and African Americans throughout the book is extensive and well done.
After reviewing the book cover to cover I have come to the conclusion that the book, like the film documentary, is totally devoid of the WWII Latino and Latina experience.
Findings:
Introduction - No Latinos or Latinas (Photo of Ken burns father - Robert)
* Written text - No Latinos or Latinas
Photos - No Latinos or Latinas
Illustration Credits - No Latinos or Latinas
Acknowledgments - No Latinos or Latinas
Extensive bibliography - No Latinos or Latinas
Index - No Latinos or Latinas
Film Credits - No Latinos or Latinas

* only one reference to Mexicans when describing the population of Sacramento. It states "The city had been the gateway to the Gold Rush and the Western anchor of the transcontinental railroad, and it was home to some 106,000 diverse people-- including Mexicans, Italian, Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino Americans." Other that this one reference to "Mexican," Latinos are excluded in THE WAR.

It is incumbent for us, the Latino and Latina community, to sent a strong economic message to the publisher Alfred A. Knopf, Ken Burns, Geoffrey Ward and PBS that we will not spend our hard earned money on publications or films that excludes us from our nation's historical memory.
Please join us in sending this message.
BOYCOTT BOOK: THE WAR
BOYCOTT THE WAR DVD
Gus Chavez
Defend The Honor Campaign

Paula Kerger, President & Chief Executive Officer, My name is Juan Marinez and I’m a faculty at Michigan State University. I had the good fortune to be invited to attend two showings of
WKAR, PBS affiliate at Michigan State University. The first showing was on Sunday September 9, and the other was yesterday September 11, 2007. I have to tell you that WKAR make an extra effort to include Latino WWII veterans from Michigan in the piece titled “Voice of Michigan” .

Although, when it came to your National program by ken burns the previews shown made no mention of Latinos and their sacrifice to the WWII and or their participation in the home front.

I know we Latinos participated because of personal knowledge from my family members as well as neighbors who sent their sons to fight in defense of America.

To not mention our Latino contribution in a historical work like the one by burns is more than a travesty it falls into a cosmic historical mistake category. He has place us as Latino in the invisible category of Americans. I’m more then disappointed with what I saw in two the previews, don’t count on me watching the series because if I’m invisible in the history record by, my viewing it I, would be participating in this complicity between PBS and ken burns. Thank you for taking a few minutes to read my message. Juan Marinez

Burns burns me up! Ron Takaki commentary

Come on now, just 29 minutes of a 15 hour documentary! That's worse than
insulting tokenism. That's like President Roosevelt refusing to
integrate the U.S. Armed Forces.At least Roosevelt recognized that he
had to do it right, or not at all. Burns chose not to do it right. And
fpr the book which will influence a generation of students, he chose to
do it not at all. There is something wrong with this picture.

This fight with Burns is a fight worth fighting for. We have nothing to
lose, and much to win. The fight itself has already mobilized the Latino
community across the country, and has helped to awaken America to our
varied diversities. From this point on, television producers and also
publishers will be more conscious of their reponsibility to portray
America more inclusively and hence more accurately.

I wish we had taken on Steven Spielberg when he gave us, "Saving
Private Ryan," without even giving us a glimpse of the Black troops
on the beaches of Normandy unloading ammunition from the ships and
feeding the white combat troops, without even giving viewers a hint that
the U.S. was fighting the Nazis with a Jim-Crow army. But
that is damage already done.

Now, we are taking up arms against Burns and PBS. Let us declare that a
mere 29 minutes is unacceptable! Doesn't Burns see the handwriting on
the wall? Here the numbers do the telling: Latinos outnumber Blacks.
Latino voters gave the Democratic Party the 2004 victory for the House
and Senate elections. They will also give
the party the White House in 2008. They will remember the terrible
oversight. Omission by Burns and PBS.

Please let me apologize for my explosion of enraged disappointment at
Burns and PBS. But to remain silent on this issue is to be complicit. I
refuse to be complicit.Like Melville's Bartlesby, I prefer not to
pretend this charade is
not happening.

Quote of the Week: The War looks at World War II, as it does racism... as a snapshot of a powerful moment in history, detached from the present. Which in a weird way explains the omission of Latinos from The War. At this moment in time, when the hysteria around the "Mexican threat" is at an all-time high, it's no wonder Latinos are excluded from Burns' latest opus. It's messy. Like those who are more willing and able to help the poor across the globe while detesting the homeless person panhandling down the street, it's easier to deal with racism and the obscenity of war if it's something said and done in the past. To include the very real contribution of Latinos in World War II means not only being educated on why that war was a watershed moment in U.S. Latino history but also provokes a sobering look at the present. -- Belinda Acosta, writer, Austin Chronicle, Sept. 21, 2007.

Cesar
E. Chavez quoteSharing the comments of an educator of 35 years
D-Q University, the first Indian-Chicano University
Scholarship Information
Latino Education and America: The Road Ahead
Growing Up Latino/a in the USA
Between the Lines . . Interviews by Barry Kibrick of authors.

"It is not enough to teach our young people to be successful...so
they can realize their ambitions, so they can earn good livings, so they
can accumulate the material things that this society bestows. Those are
worthwhile goals. But it is not enough to progress as individuals while
our friends and neighbors are left behind."

I will talk and write more in depth to you as I am in the middle of
several issues work and school related............

Parents, guardians, grandparents, relatives are all important to
students, because in today's world there is no rule..........or
nuclear family..........for Latinos/as or anyone else for that
matter......

To participate in our children's education to be proactive is a
learning process which too many schools and educational systems do
not want because there is too much misspending of monies in
education.

As you can see here for me the bottom line is that all the students
that I mentor from every community understand that the educational
system is here for us to take advantage ..........it is not our best
friend
in terms of being user friendly............. but that is no excuse
for lack of effort to learn............and then
top help others do the same........

I don't care what language the parents or guardians. speak, I do
care that they are invited to schools, understand better the process
and how they can learn to help their children. (if they are there to
do so)
and that they empower themselves with information...........

As a mentor, the only thing that I want from my students is that
they understand that I will help make them weave through the maze to
their journey, but they have a responsibility to help others do the
same............I don't want a gold star, a badge, money or anything
else but that............... and my students don't let me
down...............

I have been doing this for 35 plus years, made a lot of educational
system enemies. but I have thousands of kids who have graduated from
college presidents to doctors............. that is a blessing that
no one can deny...........

One of the people that backed me in the
take over the Trans-Pacific Communications Military site where we
established D-Q University, the first Indian-Chicano University
(1970 the US Federal deeded the 640 acres to the Mexican American
and Native American community) was ANNA RAMIREZ she became a warden
and a couple of the "MACHETES" are with the California
Correctional Dept.

I agree and encourage the young folks I mentor to explore all
aspects of the governmental systems as possible career options.
However, in this regard I am very concerned that we are not more
vigorously addressing the disaster that our "BARIOS are in.
There are places where a handful of punks/gangs and drug dealers are
running entire Mexican American neighborhoods. Any one with the
slightest modicum of success (can afford to live somewhere else gets
the hell out of "DODGE" as fast as they can.

Introspection, self study and analysis is not a bad thing. When I
look at the numbers of our youth going to prison I cringe when I see
our youth proud to be punks and as they perceive "chingones".
When being "cool" is more important then college. When
Mexican American low riders have a higher standing in the BARIO then
Mexican American professors I wonder, where are we going wrong?

In a sense I fault ourselves and our leadership because we do not
draw a very visible and hard line that simple establishes a position
that we find no redeeming value in this non-sense that some how the
"Bato-Loco syndrome" contributes something positive to our
culture.

Writing on peoples walls has become an honored endeavor to too many
of our children. Yes art is beautiful. Let’s get our kids into art
institutes and put an end to this "if you ruin some hard
working Mexican American families home or neighborhood" you
have done a neat thing. Just because we hold ourselves to a standard
that would make our lives safer and more beautiful, does not make us
anti Raza.

The issue of our youth filling prisons is like the issue of so many
Mexicans dieing of thirst escaping from Mexico (thousands). We have
seen thousands of children slaughtered in our barrios over the
years. The number of Mexican Americans we have lost in IRAQ is
negligible by comparison. My son returned from Iraq last December. I
fear more for his life in the "HOOD" the in the middle of
Bagdad. It may sound counter intuitive but count the numbers. It
would be an interesting and valuable experiment to forget about the
Gringo for a moment and take an honest look at what hurts us the
most and our burden and obligation to address our collective
dilemma. Many hugs and god wishes.

Latino Education and America: The Road Ahead
By Manuel Hernandez-Carmonamannyh32@yahoo.com

The numbers are undeniable. As the Latino population gets
closer and closer to 50 million milestone, the relationship
between America and Latino education is still undetermined and
uncertain. According to United States Census projections, about 67
million people of Hispanic origin would be added to the nation’s
population between 2000 and 2050. Their numbers are projected to
grow from 35.6 million to 102.6 million, an increase of 188
percent. While these numbers are revealing, Latinos are the
population with the highest high school dropout rate (58.4%). I am
not a mathematician, but the road ahead for Latino education must
be paved with a clear vision and defined strategies on how to meet
and surpass the academic demands of the largest minority in the
United States.

It has been said over and over again that an education is the
key that unlocks the doors to a whole new world of opportunities.
That has been the story of the American nation. The media moguls
will be spending more than 4 billion dollars in Latino advertising
this year. Both American political parties spend a lot of time,
effort and dollars luring the so-called Latino vote, especially
with 2008 just around the corner. They want to catch our
attention. All attention right now should be directed towards the
Latino dropout rate. When will Latino leaders wake up, speak out
and unite on all fronts to redefine the education of their
children? Fashion and music will not protect Latino children from
the street sharks, earthly predators and neighborhood influences.
The issue yesterday, right now and tomorrow is education.

What about the road ahead? There has been so much talk about
what to do and how to do it but very little action set forth. In
my book, effective action is determined by results. There are a
lot of good things happening in the education of Latinos in
America, but no one can deny that the dropout rate is the lowest
of all. The key here is unity of purpose. The specific academic
needs of a Latino teen in California and New York may be
different, yet the goals are basically the same, a high school
diploma and a doorway to higher education.

Unity of purpose means to set trifles aside and work towards a
common goal. The forefathers of this great nation had so many
differences but what united them was purpose. When there is
purpose, a vision is born. It all begins and ends with proper
family values. The process of improving educational attainment
begins with Latino parents. City, state and government must
provide parents with information, a voice and encourage parental
partnerships with schools. Many Latino parents are recent arrivals
themselves and stay away from school out of fear of being
deported. Second, a strong English as a Second Language component,
to new and recent arrivals is a must - develop strict
identification and placement procedures and implement reliable
diagnostic and assessment measures. Last, provide content-enriched
academic programs across disciplines with authentic and practical
young adult literature in English and continue to provide
linguistic/academic support for at least one year after
mainstreaming to ensure a successful transition. These are just
three old ideas. But I cannot do it by writing and writing and
writing about the issue. A Latino team with unity of purpose must
be formed as soon as yesterday, not only to discuss but to
redesign a national Latino Educational Vision that will be
embraced by all Latinos across America.

Desert Development
Personal Essay by Joshua Foster

"Mister, but I can’t think
of anything to write . . . my life’s too boring," Juan*
said for the fifth time that morning. Our April deadline was
closing in.

"What did you get from your
interview?" I asked.

"I didn’t do it," he
answered. "Well, I talked to my bro, but you know, I always
do that."

Juan, a seventh grader I’d been
working with since February, had a shaved head and proudly sported
his bling. During the writing assignments he flirted with three or
four different girls until the teacher—who had gladly agreed to
let us, three graduate students, infiltrate her classroom for a
semester to implement a family history project with an emphasis on
personal narrative writing—would catch Juan dazing. She’d
slide a desk to the back corner and make him sit alone. Juan would
sulk the rest of class and bolt as soon as the bell rang.

This was the first time we were
conferencing one on one. I crouched by his desk, asking questions
while he, arms folded, stymied every one.

"How come you didn’t do
your interview?"

"I had better things to
do."

I was as frustrated as he. Worse
off, I could see myself, eleven years prior, parrying a teacher’s
advances in the same way—a run-out-the-clock situation. Who
would want to spend a weekend interviewing a family member about
educational aspirations? Wouldn’t any child, in their right
mind, prefer to be playing basketball, or Xbox, or writing notes?

The bell rang. Stumbling through
another sentence, Juan squeezed past me and eased next to Jessica,
his favorite flirt. They rushed out of the classroom without
looking back.

The following week, now just
three class periods away from the book’s press date, I
approached Juan with another proposition. We facilitators decided
that if the students had not completed an interview we should
encourage them to write about a personal experience in which they
learned something, whether it be in school or at home. Many
hesitant students took off with the new idea. But when I found
Juan, he refused to pick up his pencil.

"Can you think of a time
that you learned something?"

"No."

"I know you can—you can’t
tell me you’ve never learned anything in your life. Let’s just
pick an experience and then write about it." I looked at the
clock—thirty more minutes, and then just two more class periods
before one hundred pages of a book had to be filled. "Can you
tell me a story about anything? I’ll just sit and listen."

Juan looked around the room, and
told me this: "Last month I was hanging with my bro at his
friend’s apartment. They weren’t big apartments, two stories,
and they had this porch thingy outside the front door. We were
playing Playstation or something, and my bro’s friend got this
call on his cell saying he needed to go outside. My bro tells me
to go hide in the bedroom and not open the door for anybody, so I
did. But when I heard the front door shut, I went back out to the
TV room and watched out the window. This car pulled up and my bro
and his friend were standing out there talking to some gangsters.
And then the dude driving pulled a gun. My bro’s friend put his
arm up in front of his face to block or whatever, but they shot
right through his arm. His head blew up and he fell down. My bro
started running, and they started shooting at him too. Later, he
found out he got shot in the side, but he was okay. The car peeled
out and flew down the road and I could see my bro’s friend dead
in the parking lot. I started shaking and called 911. My bro went
to the hospital. But I just remember Eduardo trying to block with
his arm, then pop pop, then going down. I was shaking so
hard, I wouldn’t open the door for my brother, I was just
sitting in the corner shaking."

As we sat in his white-walled, concrete-block classroom with no posters, only books and papers stacked up in corners and on unfrequented bookshelves, Juan shook. His bravado and stand-offishness were gone. He refused to look at me. "You think I should write about that?"

"I'm not supposed to show you this, but I have something that might help you choose what something to write about." Out came a draft of another student's work, from another one of our schools, a macho student who had refused to write or even participate until last week.

"Have you ever been in a fight?" I asked. The poem was called "First Fight". I left him the paper. When I returned, Juan was writing a love poem to one of his girls. I didn't disturb him. He wrote until the bell rang and stayed after to show me his draft.
Our final class, he wrote like mad. He decided against submitting his love poem-not manly enough, not hardcore-and produced one of my favorite works from those whirlwind four months. Before class ended, Juan read it aloud. Two weeks later, he would come alone to the university-dressed in a sleeveless black t-shirt, thick silver chain, black jean shorts-and share it to an auditorium filled with students, community members, and friends.

"My Chocolate Chip Cookie"
My first fight was in second grade. I fought this kid because he took my chocolate chip cookie. I asked him to give me my cookie back.

When I asked him, he ate it. I got mad and started to kick and swing. The kid started crying.

The teacher, Ms. Santa Cruz, wrote a note to my parents. Then she made me tell the other kid that I was sorry and give him a hug (although I didn't want to).
Now that I think back on it, I think it was stupid to fight over a cookie. But it was chocolate chip-who wouldn't?

#

I came to the GEAR UP project, a college access program, in a serendipitous way. I was twenty-four and a first-year graduate student. My wife and I had moved from our life-long home in Idaho for a new state and a new career in south Arizona. We left behind family and friends that had been the very center of our lives, but we felt it necessary to stake out a new claim, no matter the consequences. So we loaded up the U-Haul, trailered our Honda, and headed a thousand miles in a direction we had never before imagined. We did so quickly, as to avoid tears and second-guesses that often accompany such choices. If we had dilly-dallied, I'm not sure we would have ever left.
Formally, I am not a teacher. If anything, I had been trained as a day-laborer on my father's potato farm. The spring before, I had graduated with a bachelor's degree in English, which seemed ludicrous to my small-town compatriots, with whom I would exchange conversations such as these while in line at the local gas station:
"So, you're getting old enough to take over your Dad's farm there-you gonna stick around?"

"No, actually I'm moving at the end of the summer to go to grad school."

"Gonna be a doctor or something?"

"No, I'm going to graduate school in fiction writing. I like to write stories."

"Isn't that just kind of a hobby?"

I reverted to the benchmark equalizer: "There's a chance I could teach afterwards."
They'd immediately brighten. "Oh, you're gonna teach"

It was easier to not clarify that assertion. I had no intention of teaching. I was not a trained teacher. I could think of nothing more unpleasant as teaching boys if they were anything like me as a student. I had no patience for such immature, obnoxious hooligans. Teaching was clearly not for me.

"Can't believe you don't want to stick around and farm-you'd make way more, with all your Dad's land."

"Yeah, me neither." That would get a laugh, at least.

A month into my degree, I realized that an unfunded MFA was not the soundest financial move, and with my wife studying full-time, decided to find a job. In a week's time I had applied for a dozen or so, and had been interviewed with no callbacks. I was so discouraged I almost blew off the GEAR UP interview, which came on a Friday and at the tail end of another disappointing week.

I am still convinced I was hired on the precept that I spoke Spanish, a skill acquired from toiling with migrant workers. The cohort of students for the project were the children of immigrants, and oftentimes first- or second-generation US citizens. This was exciting, as I had missed the camaraderie frequently found among the Latino spectrum of America. It served as a pinched allusion to my former farming life, something much needed at the time.

Along with me, two other English grad students were hired: Bob, a poetry student (who had worked previously tutoring in a similar demographic), and Rebecca, a second-year Rhetoric and Composition Ph D. candidate who had taught at the university level and community volunteer. As far as experience and training, I was convinced I was the trout far from its mountain stream.

In concordance with our Project Director, we came up with this semester-long project: In a writing workshop setting, Bob, Rebecca, and I would train the students in interviewing skills. The students would interview a selected family member dealing with their own educational experience-successes, failures, regrets,

accomplishments-to start a dialogue about college. The interview would be digitally recorded and burned to CDs. Students would draft, revise, and critique creative narratives based on the interviews. The works would be compiled in an anthology. Once the book was published, a huge bash would be coordinated at the local university where students could share their work and sign autographs.

We were cleared to work in five different middle schools. The three of us met with each school's principal, all of whom were amiable and excited, yet with a myriad requests: Would you mind working exclusively with some of our English language learners? Could you take on the semester-long responsibility of handling a daily class? Will you meet in the library? This sounds great-but is there some way you can work with every seventh-grader in our school? To which we chorused "Yes!" with little understanding of the atomic mushroom cloud that the Voices of GEAR UP project would quickly become.

#
At one school we were given a class specifically stacked with students who were struggling with English acquisition. Plus we had to meet in the library. Plus there were twenty-four kids with a wait list of six more. After weeks of slowly sloshing through the curriculum, fighting language barriers, and training students on how to act and react in our nontraditional classroom model-to which they responded by only answering with their catchphrase "Hot Dog!" an inside joke that caused the other students to roar. A month in, I was surprised to find students not on our initial roster being sent to the workshops by their teachers.

Confused, I confronted some of the culpable instructors, as the sporadic additions disrupted the course plans. But I'm a softy, and the teachers explained that their other students-students who I thought were paying no attention to me and only responding by shouting, essentially, "Processed Meat!"-had improved so much they thought the additions were crucial. Reluctantly, albeit proudly, we agreed to accommodate one more students, Pedro.

Pedro was a mammoth thirteen year old with a scarred forehead, helmet hair, and a likeable innocence. Even though the other students were full-stride into their interviews, when I assigned Pedro to write or practice open-ended questions or read a peer's story, he would grin and take off, not knowing exactly where to go or how to do it, but striving nonetheless. On one condition: I was always in arm's length to assist him. His shyness and timidity were endearing.

Pedro's cooperation may have been my first clue that he was different from his peers. Again I thought back to my own middle grade experience and couldn't name a teacher with whom I felt I personal relationship. I thought I did with my P.E. teacher, who I'd often joke with, until one day I walked into class and my father was leaning against the wall. "Just so you'll stay on track," the teacher said. I resolved to not use scare tactics or other such nonsense on the students in my workshops-there had to be a more successful way to reach children than vague threats of running extra laps.

Pedro taught me much of that. As his peers laughed and joked, he listened intently. After every lesson, Pedro was the first to raise his hand and ask a question; in fact, he oftentimes had his hand up the entire lesson.

So in a school with many setbacks, Pedro stood like a lighthouse. He towered over all of the prepubescent boys, who harassed him for finishing assignments and staying on task.

As most of our students had no access to a computer at home, handwritten drafts were accepted. But one day a few weeks before our deadline, Pedro showed up to class with a typed draft of his long prose poem "Not Fiction"-named in confusion with a lesson on nonfiction writing-about traveling to Mexico for holidays to see his grandmother. Even though he was weeks ahead of the class he worked on his piece to the end of semester, switching out words, trying on new titles, and musing over lines.
When it came time to practice public reading skills, Pedro volunteered to showcase his work. An outgoing girl was the first to jump at my proposal to read in front of the class, and her classmates-for the fact it was free time to make a ruckus-wildly applauded. When she finished Pedro hesitated and shook his head no.

"Are you nervous?"

He nodded yes.

"No one's going to hurt you-we're all doing the same thing."

"Yeah, but still."

The classmates, having that ignorant cruelty of middle school, began to chant Barney! Barney! referring to Pedro's body shape. It didn't help that the school had maroon uniforms.

"I'll go with you," I said. "I'll help you read."

He came to the front. I held one corner of his draft and he held the other. Amid the chants and hassles, he began to read in a voice so soft even I strained to hear. The class quieted, and by the first stanza, the room was pin-drop silent. The students scooted to the front of their seats and cocked their heads. When he finished, an awe-filled silence rippled around, and then applause as rowdy as the first. Pedro smiled and shuffled, forgiving every grievance he may have harbored, although I'm sure he never had any in the first place.

#
I believe that reading and writing saved my life. Not in some weird, existential way-that it was thrust upon me, that I had no choice, because what is life, if it isn't a series of conscious choices? Just as the Voices of GEAR UP chose five schools to work with, just as the students chose to participate, I chose to read and write. I just didn't know, at the time, it would serve as such a savior.

I was born second in a family of six, and of that the only boy. Being such, I had responsibilities on the farm that none of my sisters did-for which I was grateful. I spent summer days working on tractors and in fields. But at home, I read-Dave Barry's humor columns, picture books filled with ancient weaponry, Alex Haley's Roots in sixth grade while riding the transfer bus, Greek mythology, and any fat paperback from the grocery checkout.

During junior high, I tried on the various cliques associated with those years-skater, athlete, school band. To some degree, I found success in making teams and friends. But for sports I felt no passion, preferring that everyone won. I didn't have the guts to slam someone hard in wrestling or the tenacity to go after the ball. I played because my friends did.

Sophomore year I discovered the high school newspaper and wrote humor columns and movie reviews. This made much more sense to me, as people would stop me in the halls and laugh with me on some random line printed in the latest edition. It seemed win-win.

But because of the small-town attitude, and the group I ran with, I felt that athletic dominance was the only way to be somebody. My dad was a talented linebacker in his day; my mother a cheerleader. I heard their stories and began to train harder and more frequently, dreaming to achieve that prestige bestowed in high school hallways.
The summer before my senior year, all of that snapped tragically-or popped, rather- after a two-a-day football training camp. I had leaned over too far on my fourth set of squats and an awkward crack had shaken my lower back and stopped me cold. I couldn't move or straighten. A month later I had back surgery.

Doctor's orders: no sports senior year, no running for three months, possibly forever. That summer was the worse-no farm work, no canal swimming, nothing. I gained thirty pounds, played a borrowed video game consul, and stopped reading. I was depressed and chip-shouldered; why would I deserve this?

And then the life-saver-I was offered the editor-in-chief position of the high school newspaper. The advisor was the first teacher to really put some stake in my abilities. We won state and national awards, for which I was offered a college scholarship. Then, a few years later, I ended up in a nondescript general education English literature class and read Juan Rulfo, a Mexican author, for the first time. You can guess my elation when I learned that people could earn college degrees for reading and analyzing great works of written art.

#
"See one, do one, teach one" serves as a mantra for young doctors in their residencies. Deliberate practice is the burgeoning surgeon's pathway to success, and there's a certain degree of faking it until making it that exists in every occupation, from rock star to financial planner. But teacher, isn't one born with such a disposition?
Of the three of us, Rebecca was as close to being a natural teacher as any I'd ever encountered. I was amazed by her caring, all-in attitude towards the students. Angelica, a quiet girl who sat in the back, showcased the transcendence of the typical teacher/student relationship.

Angelica's school was a special case. The other four schools allowed us to come once a week for workshops, but her school arranged for us to come every day for the entire semester. This posed a problem, as none of us were formally trained middle school instructors.

The first day of class we were introduced to twenty students as their new teachers. Granted, we had never before set foot in their school, never before seen any of them, and for two of us, never before taught. The kids were so timid, I thought that at any moment three or four might burst into tears.

After two weeks, Angelica had only been in class twice. It seemed that no one in administration could figure it out. Angelica would come to school all day and then ditch our period. When I arrived to teach solo on Tuesdays, I would oftentimes see her in the hallway. We exchanged smiles, but when I called role, no one knew to where she had run. We were instructed to conference with her ASAP.

The next week we received a note from the school's Native American advisor outlining Angelica's complaint: too much Spanish was being spoken among peers and between students and teachers, which made her feel uncomfortable and ostracized. But the truth was, although the students bantered back and forth in their native language, we instructed in English.

Rebecca dove in to relieve Angelica's concerns. During the conference, the real reasons surfaced-it pained Angelica to talk about her family. They were poor, homeless, and abusive. Not only did she feel that they had no stories worth sharing, but the few stories they did have ("mostly about fights they've been in," Angelica said) embarrassed her. Rebecca, so caring, explained that everyone had stories to tell and that we would make an exception for Angelica. She could tell her own stories and bypass the family interview assignment. In lieu, Rachel assigned a contemporary short story by Sherman Alexie that dealt with a Native American struggling to find purpose and meaning in his life on the streets. Angelica resolved to write.

But the next week she didn't come to class, and we received news from the office she and a friend had smoked pot on school premises. The friend was expelled; Angelica suspended for a week. Both girls, it seemed, were too far gone to help. Writing was the least of their worries.

But when Angelica returned, it was clear she wanted to change. She became our model student. Not only did she write one of the most powerful poems in the book, she participated on a daily basis, asked questions about going to college, reading examples in front of the class.

At the final reading, a crowd showed up with Angelica. The change had touched her family. Hers was on of the largest section of the audience-grandparents, cousins, nieces, nephews. In a surprise twist, students were invited to speak about us, the instructors. Angelica explained how Rebecca took the time to help her, and that Rebecca had become a friend in the truest sense. As she spoke, an electric crackling rippled through me-that's what teacher means.

#
The students worked hard on their writing. In the four schools where we taught only once a week, the students loved us, bemoaning the days we were late. We crawled towards our deadlines, and although absences, school activities, and vacation days threw the constant curveball, it appeared everything would connect and the book would be completed.

Why was this? Unanimously, the students had frowned and complained when asked if writing would engage them. Mister, writing is boring! Mister, let's play a game! Mister, why would anyone want to read about me! But two months later, I saw students put nub pencils to ragged notebooks and write-students that were athletes, flirts, thugs, preps; students who were acquiring English as a second language; lonely students who had no friends in the class, nor anyone to buoy them in their academic endeavors.
Months later, I read an article in Language Arts by Danling Fu and Nancy F. Shelton that connected some of these gaps. They facilitated a similar creative writing project in a similar area of poverty in the southeastern United States. They selected nine students achieving below their academic potential and facilitated a workshop that included peer edits, unassigned seating, uninhibited student interaction, mini-lessons, personal writing time, and contemporary literature. By the end of their project, six of the nine students passed their state-wide writing tests. More importantly they became "writers alongside their peers."

We bestowed the title of writer on our unknowing seventh graders. We set class rules and deadlines but encouraged them to ask a fellow student for help, or better yet, figure it out on their own. A common mantra, when asked "Can I do this?" was to look into their eyes and say "What do you think?" Usually the cogs clicked and the students figured it out on their own.

Sure, we had our fair share of problems-missed interviews, wasted class periods, behavioral challenges, and language issues. The book filled with engaging, heartfelt, heart- breaking, grammatically questionable truth, and all of it by our preset deadline.

#
The first day at Hector's school shocked me. We had been given twenty academically challenged students. Luckily, the school paired one of their most dynamic and caring teachers with the group. She relentlessly encouraged, promoted, and taught the power of reading and writing. But the students were stuck in a rut, whether from having her two years in a row, two periods a day, or from state-instituted writing tests, they could not catch the personal power of becoming writers.

The first day, I sat in the back and saw Hector-at least six inches taller than anyone in the room and a wispy moustache-bully his way into a seat on the back row. Next to him, a girl called her neighbor a bitch and threatened to slap the shit out of her.
I took the rambunctious group to the library, where we circled chairs around in a corner and worked. Those first weeks were terrible. I spoke at a normal library tone while the students texted, wrote notes, and fought. I had one fall back: scan the shelves and find a familiar book. I'd summarize the story but never give away the ending. After two or three times of this, the students listened intently to find out the storyline and characters, and they would go nuts when I wouldn't tell the conclusion.
For some reason, that won over Hector. When students became unruly and unmanageable, he would shout at his classmates to shut up.

He waited every day to show me his revisions. Once I made the mistake of saying that one specific section was my favorite. He erased entire paragraphs, revising and rewriting, and then would show them to me, questioning, "Which one is your favorite now? Still the second?" If so, back to the drawing board. He wanted everything to be perfect.

I received a call from Hector the morning of the university reading. He and his mom were lost. They finally pulled up in a beaten-down Dodge; his mother looking unpleasant, I assumed due to traffic.

Hector properly introduced me to his mother and sister. They both wore t-shirts and sweats, and whispered back and forth. Hector was decked out-new flat billed Yankee cap, ironed jeans shorts, and a striped polo shirt. After a while, he took me aside and told me how nervous he was-and that he wanted to read first.

I was floored. I re-shook his mother's hand, expressing how proud I was of her son. Hector did a fantastic job, ending his essay with this: "This writing I have just done is a dedication to the GEAR UP program because without them you wouldn't have heard this nice and beautiful writing that I created. I hope you liked it."

#
"See one, do one, teach one." It makes sense now. Sure, I faked it for a while, but at the program's apex, I was as gung-ho as the students. Another axiom from my high school athletic days surfaced: "All kids need to succeed is a coach that motivates and encourages."

What happens when you tell a student they're a sprinter rather than a long-distance runner? They sprint harder. What happens when you say they're a swimmer and not a golfer? They buy goggles. And what happens when you tell someone that their writing made you smile, or laugh, or cry a little? Well, they sharpen their pencil.
We chose to help the student's be successful. We avoided critiquing grammatical and spelling errors until the very final edits, we encouraged students to depend on each other with questions and concerns, and ultimately emboldened them to communicate, rather than just write, the story of their family and themselves.

#
Due to a miscommunication over Spring Break, we lost track of Victor, one of our top students. Turns out, his family moved to a new part of town over that free week. By chance he turned up in one of our other schools, but we didn't find him until two weeks before the deadline. On press deadline, I had only one empty page, and it belonged to Victor. The printer was breathing down my neck. I promised the proofs would be there later that night.

A scramble of phone calls to school administration and GEAR UP coordinators, I arranged to pick up the final copy of Victor's essay at his house that afternoon. With little faith, I headed towards his place.

I circled the trailer park-a sea of sunburned, faded, tin-roofed homes in a not-so-great part of town-twice before finding his address. The rickshaw steps creaked as I stepped up and knocked on the door; Victor's mother answered and greeted me in Spanish. Behind her, Victor chickenpecked out his draft on a yellowed desktop computer.
"Maestro," she said and took my hand. "Gracias por todo."

Maestro. I thought back to me previous life, swearing this was the last thing I'd do. Had the sky split, a ray of light warming me, epiphany raining down? Was I, God help me, a teacher?

"Your son was great, he did it all," I said. Victor printed his essay.

After a few questions, I excused myself. But before I got back to my car, I returned.

"You're coming to the college for the reading, right?"

Victor said. "Wouldn't miss it. Be there for sure."

And, indeed, he was. In a suit and tie, no less. Victor, along with the others, had written their way to illumination. And to some degree, so had I.

Joshua Foster is currently enrolled in the University of Arizona's MFA
program in fiction and nonfiction writing.

"GROWING UP LATINO/A IN THE USA"

Amigo/as,
I wanted to announce that I will soon be releasing my newest book
entitled, "GROWING UP LATINO/A IN THE USA". This book is intended to help parents/teachers discuss history and
culture with children.

I have developed activities that will teach kids about Indigenous History,
Latin American geography, Latino/a Heroes (i.e. Simon Bolivar, Cesar Chavez,
Sor Juana, Rigoberta Menchu-Tum) as well as activities about Latino food,
Dichos, and Bilingualism.

You can pre-order "Growing Up Latino/a in the USA" and you can also
review and purchase my other books on Cesar Chavez and the History of the San
Fernando Valley at www.latinohistory4kids.com.

Thank you to all of you who have purchased books in the past or helped me
spread the word. PLEASE FORWARD THIS MESSAGE TO ALL YOUR FRIENDS AND FAMILY-
especially to TEACHERS!!! I have taught Elem. School for 10 years now and I
know the value of teaching kids about HISTORY!!! The age range is approx. 3-5th grade...

Visit www.latinohistory4kids.com and let me know how you have been using my
books with youth across the country. SHARE YOUR STORIES ON THE GUESTBOOK on
the website...

I just wanted to share with you that I have just launched my new website to
advertise and sell my history activity books (for kids). YOU CAN NOW PURCHASE
AND REVIEW THE BOOKS ONLINE!!! Please spread the word and go visit
www.latinohistory4kids.com

Any questions (or to order books), please e-mail me at acervant@crsassociates.net
or call me at (818) 388-9303.

GRACIAS,
Angel R. Cervantes

Between
the Lines . . Interviews by Barry Kibrick of authors.
I wrote Barry Kibrick asking what he was doing for Hispanic
Heritage Month. Barry is with the Los Angeles School
District. He produces an program for the Los Angeles School
District, interviewing authors. He responded:

Dear Mimi: Thanks again for alerting me to Hispanic Heritage
Month.
I'll be airing two episodes that might be of interest for
you and Somos Primos.

On Tuesday night, Oct. 2 at 11:00 PM on
KLCS-TV we will be
airing an episode with Pulitzer Prize winning author Sonia Nazario
and her Pulitzer Prize winning story Enrique's
Journey.
Then on Sunday, Oct. 7 at 11:00 PM we will air an episode
featuring Luis Rodriguez with his award winning book Always
Running.

Thanks again for reminding me about Hispanic Heritage Month.
Hope all is well.Barry

If the demographers are correct that Latinos will be a majority
in California by 2042, filmmaker Phillip Rodriguez has a question:
"Who are these new neighbors?"

CLAUDIA ROCHA
Comedian George Lopez learned to "walk a tightrope
between ethnic authenticity and prime-time appeal,"
according to a new documentary.

He searches for answers in his documentary, "Brown is the
New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream," which airs
Thursday, on KPBS. The hour-long film explores the way Latinos are
perceived by the media and marketers – and how they perceive
themselves.

"Americans are in a collective state of confusion about
Latinos," Rodriguez said.

He's not surprised. It starts with terminology. Most Latinos
don't call themselves Latino; they are more likely to identify
themselves by their country of origin. Hispanic? That's a term the
federal government came up with for record keeping. And it's a myth, Rodriguez said, to consider Latinos a
homogenous group.

"What are the commonalities between a member of the Cuban
bourgeois who came here in 1959, and a peasant from Michoacan who
came here yesterday?" he asked during a phone interview from
Los Angeles, where he lives. "Other than language, and maybe
Catholicism, I'm not sure there are many."

Yet as his documentary shows, many media and marketing
companies continue to treat Hispanics as monolithic, and that in
turn is shaping how America understands the nation's largest (44
million) and fastest-growing ethnic group.

"Latinos are caught in a netherworld," Rodriguez
said. "Mainstream media have largely ignored them, while
Spanish-language networks and Hispanic ad companies have served up
an exoticized image that has no basis in contemporary American
reality."

One notable exception is comedian George Lopez, he said. Before
being canceled this year after five seasons, "The George
Lopez Show" was the longest-running English-language program
with a Latino lead in TV history.

The documentary starts with footage of Lopez heading to a
stand-up comedy appearance – first in a helicopter, then a
limousine. He's arrived, in more ways than one.

Talking about his popularity, Lopez says: "Finally there
is someone that you can invest in that looks like you, speaks like
you, relates to things you relate to, and makes our culture OK to
talk about."

CLAUDIA ROCHA

Filmmaker Phillip Rodriguez (left) with Lopez following
the comedian's performance at the Long Beach Arena.

Rodriguez likened Lopez to Bill Cosby, whose 1980s sitcom
"normalized" African-American life for a wider audience.
Lopez, he said, "is a case study of someone who managed to
introduce this brown Mexican-American identity to mainstream
audiences."

By following Lopez around – to his stand-up act, to a sitcom
writer's meeting, to the set of the show – the film addresses an
important question, Rodriguez said: "How does an outside
culture get on the inside?"

Cosby's show was criticized in some quarters as too bland;
Lopez, too, has been accused of sanding off some of his sharp
edges. He doesn't deny it.

"I've been in meetings with Warner Bros. when I wasn't
particularly happy with what I was hearing," Lopez recounts
in the documentary. "The Chicano in me would say, 'I'm
leaving.' But when you leave, you're out. So I made myself stay.
Probably a lot of people would say that's selling out. But it's
not selling out. It's the way the business is set up."

First congratulations to Hispanic Business
Magazine on their 25th
Anniversary celebration. Viva!. And secondly to Maggie Rivas for being
one of the top 100 Latinas/Latinos being acknowledged.

Again as we continue to celebrate our Hispanic Heritage Month, please
call or write to those named as the Top 100 list if you know them or
live near them. Another example of individuals that we can
"Showcase" as our "Orgullos Hispanos".

On June 20, 2007, VA implemented Public Law 109-461; legislation which provides VA with expanded authority to contract with service-disabled veteran owned small businesses (SDVOSB) and veteran owned small businesses (VOSB). This is a logical extension of VA's mission of caring for and serving the veteran. Information Letter (IL) 049-07-08 implements P.L. 109-461. P.L. 109-461 authorizes a unique "Veterans First" approach specific to VA contracting. This approach changes the priorities for contracting preferences within VA, placing service-disabled veteran owned and veteran owned small businesses, first and second, respectively, in satisfying VA's acquisition requirements. When conducting market research, please search the Veterans Information Pages (VIP) database to find SDVOSBs and VOSBs. This database is located at www.vip.vetbiz.gov. If you have questions about P.L. 109-461 and IL 049-07-08, contact Deborah Van Dover, Senior Procurement Analyst, VA Office of Small &Disadvantaged Business Utilization, at 202-461-4255

Perhaps they should hold off on the good-riddance party and replace it
with a history lesson. Any unseemly rejoicing ignores the role
immigrants have played in the building of America and the vibrant
economy we enjoy.

"This is a nation peopled by the world," said Ronald Takaki,
an internationally recognized scholar on multiculturalism.

The factors that "pushed" people out of their countries are
varied, but there is one consistent reason the U.S. has
"pulled" them here, he said.
We needed them - for their labor - and we still do.

Takaki, a professor emeritus of ethnic studies at the University of
California, Berkeley, and the author of 11 books, will speak Tuesday
evening at the YWCA Tucson.

"The reason I study the past is because I'm concerned about the
present and the future. I've spent 40 years of my life as a scholar
studying the history of America's diversity, and I want to connect it
with what's happening in the present, especially with this raging and,
at times, acrimonious debate over illegal immigrants coming from
Mexico," he said during a phone interview.

The roots of a multicultural America are found in the earliest colonial
days when the English settled among the indigenous peoples in 1607 and a
Dutch ship brought in the first 20 Africans for sale, probably, as
indentured servants rather than slaves, Takaki wrote in his 1994 book
"America in a Different Mirror: A History of Our Diversity."

Slave labor evolved and would become the foundation of the Southern
tobacco/cotton agricultural economy.

The Chinese started coming more than 150 years ago, seeking "Gold
Mountain," as they called California. A mostly Chinese labor force
built the first transcontinental railroad. "My grandfather
came from Japan, and he would not have come here had it not been for the
demand for his labor in the cane fields of Hawaii," Takaki said.

The Irish came in large numbers to escape British colonialism. Once
here, they labored in factory, construction and domestic positions.

Catholics in a "fiercely" Protestant society, they faced
nativist hostility, Takaki wrote.
Still, the lure of the American dream was strong. The Italians, the
Poles, the Greeks and the Russians Jews came, as did more Asians from
Japan, Korea and the Philippines.

Today's burgeoning Hispanic population is largely a result of Mexicans
crossing the border both legally and illegally.

But initially the border crossed them with the American annexation of
Texas and the U.S.-Mexican War of 1846-1848 that resulted in the U.S
taking over what became California, Nevada and Utah and parts of
Arizona, Colorado, New Mexico and Wyoming.

Later, during World War II, the U.S. brought in tens of thousands of
Mexican farm laborers to work in our fields and harvest food for the
nation, Takaki said.

All these immigrant groups, including Mexicans in our country today,
have been met with discrimination and derision.

The Chinese were stereotyped as exotic heathens who could not be
assimilated, Takaki wrote. Despite the contributions of the Chinese
workers, Congress passed the 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act, the first law
to prohibit the entry of immigrants based on nationality.

The Japanese were placed in internment camps during World War II. The
Irish were labeled as convicts and drunks.

The Naturalization Law of 1790 excluded nonwhites from citizenship. The
law was on the books until 1952, Takaki said. It prevented his
grandfather from ever becoming a citizen.
Each new wave of immigrants has been the easy scapegoat for our nation's
ills, whether that be a high unemployment rate or a rising crime rate.

Does any of this sound familiar? We've all heard the arguments about
how Mexicans supposedly don't want to learn English. We've seen the
commentators who seem to take great joy in reporting on any crime
committed by an illegal immigrant, as if that person were representative
of the millions who quietly make their homes here.

There's lots of talk these days about the impending destruction of
American culture posed by the growing population of Mexican immigrants,
but Takaki likes to remind people that much of what we think of as
"American" has ethnic origins.

"God Bless America," a song so loved that some Americans would
like to see it replace "The Star-Spangled Banner" as our
national anthem, was written, Takaki noted, by a Russian Jewish
immigrant named Israel Baline, commonly known as Irving Berlin.

I expect to hear from readers who will hit me with the same old refrain:
They love legal immigrants, really. But just what part of illegal don't
you understand, missy?

My answer is that it's irrelevant when assessing the contributions of
Mexican immigrants to the American economy and placing it in a
historical context.

No less an expert than Alan Greenspan, the ex-chairman of the Federal
Reserve Board, has acknowledged their importance to the economy, Takaki
said.

The traditional hostility toward immigrants is rooted in a fear of the
changing color of America, Takaki said.

Minorities are becoming the majority.
"We really have nothing to fear but this fear itself because
diversity is America," Takaki said. "Can you imagine the
tremendously successful economy we have today without diversity? These
were the workers of the world that transformed the American
economy."
Far from being damaged by massive immigration, Takaki said, we are the
beneficiaries of it.

Anne T. Denogean can be reached at 573-4582 and adenogean@tucsoncitizen.com.
Address letters to P.O. Box 26767, Tucson, AZ 85726-6767. Her columns
run Tuesdays and Fridays.

TELEVISIONLatinos no longer a niche market for Nielsen
The move is a nod to the clout of the Spanish language market.

By Meg James, Los Angeles Times Staff Writer
August 27, 2007
After decades of being shunted to the sidelines, Spanish-language media
outlets have now joined the big leagues of TV research.

Ratings giant Nielsen Media Research today plans to pull the plug on a
separate service that it created 15 years ago to measure the size of
Latino TV audiences. Latinos are now so important to the overall TV
ratings picture that it would be misleading to relegate them to a
separate system.

So Nielsen's sole source for national ratings will come from its
influential "people meter" survey, which is produced daily
from the TV program choices made by viewers in about 12,000 homes
equipped with Nielsen set-top boxes. That panel includes about 1,400
Latino families.

"We've had to work real hard to get to where we are today,"
said Hector Orci, chairman of La Agencia de Orci & Asociados, a Los
Angeles advertising firm. "Trying to get Nielsen to change its
methodology is like moving a mountain -- a very big mountain. This move
says that Latinos make up an important market that continues to
grow."

Said Danielle Gonzales, managing director of Chicago-based Tapestry, a
top agency that specializes in Latino media: "This is a turning
point -- the television industry has acknowledged the strength of the
Hispanic population."

The move to one system comes as major media companies and advertisers
are eager to reach Latino consumers. There are more than 44 million
Latinos living in the U.S., making up about 15% of the total population.
Some studies have estimated the collective buying power of Latinos in
the U.S. at more than $800 billion a year.

"We are approaching a critical mass of consciousness by the
industry and marketers who have discovered the enormous economic buying
power of Hispanics," said Don Browne, president of Telemundo, the
Spanish-language network owned by NBC Universal. "They see who is
moving through their stores and who is buying their products and
services -- and it's increasingly Hispanics."

The history of the separate Hispanic Television Index that Nielsen is
now scrapping shows just how much Spanish-language TV has evolved.

When it debuted in 1992, the system, which measured viewing by Latinos
of both English- and Spanish-language programs, was considered
groundbreaking for seeking to figure out what Latinos were watching.

Nielsen had created the special index after Spanish-language-network
executives complained that ratings were artificially low because of a
shortage of Spanish speakers in Nielsen's sample audience. Univision and
Telemundo subsequently agreed to pay $40 million to help finance the
creation of a separate system.

In 1992, Univision and Telemundo were the primary Spanish-language
broadcast networks. Together they attracted an average 2.5 million
viewers in prime time. That year, Spanish-language TV advertising
revenues reached $220 million.

Last year, ad spending on Spanish-language TV topped $3 billion,
according to Nielsen Monitor-Plus. There now are four major
Spanish-language broadcasters, including Univision-owned TeleFutura and
Azteca America, which is affiliated with Mexico's second-largest media
firm, TV Azteca.

Doug Darfield, Nielsen's senior vice president for Hispanic services,
said there were several reasons for having a separate survey. Nielsen's
national people meter sample audience in the early 1990s was about a
third of the size that it is today. And, at that time, Latinos made up a
smaller slice of the U.S. population.

There were about 500 Latino homes in Nielsen's people meter audience,
which was too small a number to provide accurate ratings for shows that
ran on the Spanish-language networks, Darfield said.

"You needed a more robust sample size," he said. Nielsen's
Hispanic Index was made up of 1,000 homes in which the head of the
household was Latino.

Nielsen also encountered obstacles when it tried recruiting Latino
families to join. Some people, including recent immigrants, were wary of
letting the Nielsen representatives and their electronic equipment into
their homes.

Ceril Shagrin, who designed and managed the system during her 27-year
career at Nielsen, said the Hispanic survey immediately gave
Spanish-language networks more credibility with advertisers. And over
time, she said, Nielsen documented the growth of the Latino audience,
which encouraged companies and advertisers to enter the market.

But, ultimately, the system became problematic.

There was no easy way to blend the data from the Hispanic Index with
Nielsen's larger national people meter sample. Side-to-side comparisons
didn't match up either. Estimates of viewership for Spanish-language
programs produced from the two separate surveys often varied widely.
That's because there were different families in the two panels that
watched different shows.

"It was very difficult," Gonzales of Tapestry said.
"Advertisers wanted to go after the total market, but the question
was what to do with all of this different data. For some advertisers, it
became too much trouble and they would tell us, 'We'll talk about it
later.' "

There also were debates about whether Nielsen's sample was accurately
representing the Latino population. Did the sample audience have too
many or too few Spanish speakers?

Another big problem was that many of the most influential advertising
buyers paid little attention to the increasingly big ratings of
Spanish-language shows. Univision's and Telemundo's numbers, for
example, did not show up in the overnight Nielsen ratings.

Instead, executives at boutique ad agencies monitored those ratings, and
handled the buys for Spanish-language networks. More than five years
ago, Univision began lobbying Nielsen to do away with the separate
Hispanic survey.

By last year, Nielsen had increased the size of its people meter sample
audience and the number of Latinos included. Univision and Telemundo
began subscribing to that service. Ratings for Spanish-language networks
were being reported along with those of ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox.

Nielsen's Darfield said the move was made to provide the most accurate
measurement.

"It reached a point that if you are not getting the Hispanics
right, then you are not getting the rest of the population right
either," Darfield said. "Hispanics are a significant part of
the population, and that's particularly true in places like Los Angeles,
where Hispanics make up so much of the population."

In the Los Angeles television market, the prime-time telenovelas that
play on Univision's local station, KMEX-TV Channel 34, regularly
out-rank the shows that run on the English-language networks ABC, CBS,
NBC and Fox.

"It's made a huge difference. People now recognize the size of our
audience and the loyalty of our viewers," Univision's Shagrin said.
"Hispanics are part of mainstream America and they should be part
of the mainstream measurement."
meg.james@latimes.com
Sent by Viola Sadler Vrsadler@aol.com

Posters, New/Old, some free and some cost
A Proclamation By the President of the United States of America
Uncovering America: The Hispanic experience today . . .
Women Military Memorials
Hispanics
and the Medal of Honor DVDTELEMUNDO
. . .and Hispanic Heritage Month
Nielsen Builds Partnerships for Hispanic
Heritage Month

This
year's poster designed by Everardo Sanchez who is currently
attending Mount San Antonio College in California. The image
illustrates the many positive contributions that Hispanic
Americans have made in our society since the birth of our
nation. The
image of the military person is SFC Garcia; Equal Opportunity
Advisor for the United States Army, now stationed at Fort Irwin,
California, and has served our country proudly for 19 years.

At this site, you may request an electronic file of the poster you wish.
Please indicate in the e-mail the poster that you would like from those shown. A copy of the electronic file will be e-mailed to you as an attachment.

Although the posters are from previous years, it would be good to build up a collection for your classroom, library, or organization.

National Hispanic Heritage Month, 2007
A Proclamation By the President of the United States of America

Hispanic Americans have strengthened our country and
contributed to the spirit of America. National Hispanic Heritage
Month is an opportunity to honor these contributions and celebrate
the rich cultural traditions of our Hispanic-American community.

Hispanic Americans have helped establish America as a place of
freedom and opportunity, and their contributions have illustrated
what is best about our great Nation. Their hard work, love of
country, and deep commitment to faith and family have shaped the
character of our country and helped preserve the values we all
cherish. By sharing their vibrant culture and heritage, Hispanic
Americans have also enriched the American experience and helped
define the unique fabric of our Nation.

Americans of Hispanic heritage have carried on a proud
tradition of service to our Nation. In times of great consequence,
they have answered the call to defend America as members of our
Armed Forces. These brave men and women bring honor to America,
and we are grateful for their service and sacrifice. In our towns
and communities, Hispanic Americans have also shown the good heart
of our Nation by volunteering to help their fellow Americans.
Their kindness and compassion have made a difference in the lives
of others and have made our country a more hopeful place for all.

During National Hispanic Heritage Month, we celebrate the
diversity that makes America stronger, and we recognize the many
ways Hispanic Americans have enriched our Nation. To honor the
achievements of Hispanic Americans, the Congress, by Public Law
100 402, as amended, has authorized and requested the President to
issue annually a proclamation designating September 15 through
October 15 as "National Hispanic Heritage Month."

NOW, THEREFORE, I, GEORGE W. BUSH, President of the United
States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim
September 15 through October 15, 2007, as National Hispanic
Heritage Month. I call upon public officials, educators,
librarians, and all the people of the United States to observe
this month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this twelfth
day of September, in the year of our Lord two thousand seven, and
of the Independence of the United States of America the two
hundred and thirty-second.

What does it mean to be Hispanic in America today? Is there an "Americano Dream"? Is it being achieved? CNN takes a look at the challenges confronted by the Hispanic community and its growing influence in the realms of politics, culture and business.

Here is another great research site plus an opportunity for us
to register our Latina veterans. I know that during WWII over 200
nurses from Puerto Rico, plus some from NY and San Antonio TX
served in the Navy. I have a copy of the 2003 Women Memorial calendar
and it show some great photos of our WWII women that can probably
be borrowed or get permission from the Women Memorial to use in
the local PBS stations during the aring of "The
War". Thank you.

I found another source of pride for our
Hispanic veterans. It is an October 2002 issue of Hispanic
Magazine. The feature article touted the premier of the THEN
upcoming History Channel TV program entitled, "Hispanics
and the Medal of Honor." It aired on October 6, 2002, at
7:00 p.m.

The History Channel (THC) formatted this 50
minute DVD program so that it can be presented to classrooms
from grades 5-12. It is available for sale at only $24.95. For
more details, go to:

It tells the story of a group of Los Angeles
veterans, who have erected a monument in LA dedicated to
preserving the memory of Hispanic-American veterans, who
distinguished themselves in their military service to the USA.

Of particular interest, they traveled across
the country and personally interviewed 5 Hispanic World War II
veterans who had earned the Medal of Honor, and/or their
immediate family members. The honorees are:

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 19 /PRNewswire/ -- In recognition of Hispanic
Heritage Month, The Nielsen Company will be expanding its on-going
outreach to the Hispanic community in television markets
throughout the United States. With new, electronic Local People
Meter (LPM) Technology deployed in the top 13 media markets,
Nielsen is engaging Latino communities to explain who Nielsen is,
and how the TV ratings service assures the most accurate measure
of TV viewing behavior so that "every view counts."

Local People Meters are advanced electronic devices that
continuously record television viewing behavior in real time all
year long. The meters, placed in sample homes, accurately record
who is watching what programs, and allows the measurement of
various kinds of TV viewing activities, including broadcast and
cable television, mobile video devices, Digital Video Recorders,
video on demand and video games.

"Nielsen places a high priority on educating communities on
the importance of who we are, what we do and the importance of
accurately measuring TV viewing behavior," said Monica Gil,
vice president of community affairs and communications for
Nielsen. "Nielsen ratings are an accurate reflection of what
people are watching on television. This information helps TV
programmers decide what shows to schedule, and advertisers to
decide what shows to sponsor. Hispanic Heritage Month is an
excellent time to share this message among our friends in the
Latino community."

In addition to local community involvement, Nielsen established a
first- of-its-kind relationship with the nationally recognized
Hispanic research and policy organization, the William C.
Velasquez Institute (WCVI). Their academic team of nationally
recognized Latino social scientists is working with Nielsen to
analyze all aspects of the Nielsen measurement system, including
systems design, sampling, recruitment and field training for the
country's premier television ratings company. These samples are
the foundation for the television estimates reported by Nielsen.

The U.S. Hispanic/Latino population has grown 19.4% percent in the
last five years. Hispanic television households have increased by
4.4%, according to Nielsen, with Los Angeles as the number one
market, followed by New York, Miami, Houston and Chicago,
respectively.

About The Nielsen Company: The Nielsen Company is a global
information and media company with leading market positions and
recognized brands in marketing information (AC Nielsen), media
information (Nielsen Media Research) business publications
(Billboard, The Hollywood Reporter, Adweek), trade shows and the
newspaper sector (Scarborough Research). The privately held
company has more than 42,000 employees and is active in more than
100 countries, with headquarters in Haarlem, the Netherlands and
New York, USA.
For more information, please visit, http://www.nielsen.com
.

Followed by personal commentaries by
siblings
Beatrice and Fritz Armenta and cousin Chuck Anthony Armenta,
recalling the Armenta love and involvement in the great American
sport of baseball.

The four Armenta brother played on numerous city and company
baseball teams, starting in the 1930s..

IF YOU WERE A MEXICAN AMERICAN IN LOS ANGELES IN THE 1940S, '50S OR '60S, THERE WAS ONLY ONE PLACE TO BE ON A
SUNDAY AFTERNOON: DOWN AT THE NEIGHBORHOOD DIAMOND FIELD WATCHING A BASEBALL GAME

Families congregated at fields all over Los Angeles to support their favorite teams, sitting on the sidelines or in makeshift stands drinking beer, eating tacos and tamales, and gossiping and laughing with friends as mariachis strolled nearby.
One of the legendary teams of the time was the Carmelita
Chorizeros, called the New York Yankees of barrio baseball and sponsored by the owner of a chorizo factory. Many other teams flourished in the postwar years and produced outstanding professional and semi-pro baseball players. Yet, almost no attention has been given to this aspect of baseball history or the role that baseball played in Mexican American culture.

Now an exhibit of oral histories, photographs-and memorabilia spanning from amateur teams to superstar big league pitcher Fernando Valenzuela, who helped the Dodgers win the World Series in 1981, takes a big step toward giving Mexican American baseball its due. "Mexican American Baseball in Los Angeles: From the Barrios to the Big Leagues," which has been on display at several venues over the past year and is scheduled to open at Pomona Public Library this October and at other libraries and institutions in 2008, was funded by the Council under the California Story Fund.

The exhibit was the brainchild of Terry Cannon, founder of the Baseball Reliquary, a small nonprofit organization dedicated to fostering an appreciation for American art and culture through the context of baseball.

Cannon first got the idea for the exhibit after reading an article about barrio baseball in prewar Los Angeles around the time he formed his organization. But it wasn't until 2004 as a student in the library program at Pasadena City College that the idea began to take shape.

Ramon (Ray)Armenta and
Jesus Armenta, L.A. 1936

"I was at the library at California State University Los Angeles interviewing a circulation technician for a course I was taking [Cannon works as a library assistant at Alhambra High School in addition to directing the Reliquary], and I noticed the display cases in the library. The student body is heavily Latino, and I could imagine those cases filled with photographs and artifacts related to Mexican American baseball history. I mentioned "" my idea to the technician, who put me in touch with Cesar Caballero, acting university librarian, who loved the idea and connected me
to Francisco Balderrama, professor of Chicano Studies and History.

"This was truly a collaborative effort between the university and our small grassroots organization," Cannon said. .

"I originally thought we might be able to find work-study students to gather oral histories, but Balderrama was so impressed with the project idea that he designed an oral history class around it and offered it during the 2005 fall semester, and then again in fall 2006," Cannon said.

Balderrama's students collected photos and artifacts and interviewed players who Cannon was able to identify through his organization's contacts. "The course was so popular that people kept calling me to get in long after the enrollment period closed," Balderrama said.

The students interviewed former players, coaches, families of ball-players and even concession stand workers at Dodger Stadium. They delved into the history of Chavez Ravine, where Dodger Stadium now stands, which was home to generations of Mexican Americans before the City of Los Angeles evicted the residents and leveled the area.

Although the original focus was on teams in the Los Angeles area, Cannon also identified teams in other parts of California to document, including one in Corona made up of citrus workers.

"Teams were often sponsored by businesses or growers, who reasoned that if people could play baseball as a team they would transfer those skills to the work-place," Balderrama explained. But Mexican Americans often used the teams for their own purposes."

Added Cannon, "The citrus workers started going to management to ask for better working conditions. When they traveled to other towns to play baseball, they would use that as an opportunity to find out about working conditions else-where. There was a definite link between baseball and the politics of the time."

"Mexican American Baseball in Los Angeles: From the Barrios to the Big Leagues" opened in March 2006 at the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library at Cal State Los Angeles. The exhibit, put together by Cannon and Cal State L.A. Librarian Caballero, with help from one of Balderrama's students from the oral history class, captured the
imagination of the public, attracting hundreds of people during its ten-week run. A story about the exhibit made the front page of the Los Angeles Times, and ballplayers connected to the project appeared on radio and television programs to talk about their days playing ball and the communities that cheered for them.

"This is a vital part of baseball history, and it was exciting for people to see it acknowledged and celebrated," Canon said. "The exhibit also came at a time when people were marching in the streets for immigrant rights, so it gave people something positive to celebrate."

By the time the exhibit ended in June, word had gotten out. Instead of packing up the materials and handing them over to Caballero for archiving at the university's library, which will eventually happen, Cannon arranged to have the exhibit presented at other institutions. Los Angeles Trade-Technical College contacted him almost immediately about featuring the exhibit on its campus, and the exhibit was on display there for two months at the end of 2006. Then in spring 2007, he got an inquiry from Eric Reyes, head of the Institute for Socio-Economic Justice, a grassroots storefront nonprofit serving migrant workers in the Imperial Valley town of Brawley, about bringing the exhibit there. The exhibit, which Cannon and his wife transported themselves in a rented van, was presented in Brawley this past spring and featured stories of Imperial Valley Mexican American ballplayers that Reyes had collected.

Meanwhile, this past November, 25 former members of the famed Carmelita Chorizeros served as grand marshals of the second annual Boyle Heights Multicultural parade. Los Angeles City Council member Jose
Huizar, who represents East Los Angeles, has said he wants to have a special day at City Hall to honor Mexican American ballplayers. And Cannon has received out-of-state inquiries about the exhibit, including one from Texas. "Mexican Americans were playing baseball in many parts of the country, and I would love to see this project serve as a model for similar projects in other states," he said.

Now, said Cannon, the project needs more support than his small organization can provide if it is to keep on touring and evolving. "My hope is that the university will become more involved," he said, "so that the project can continue and grow."

When Cannon began the project, he had no idea how successful it would be. "The community and the media discovered an important aspect of Mexican American cultural history that they didn't even know existed," he said.

Added Balderrama, "The once-flourishing culture of amateur and semi-professional baseball was an important means for Mexican American to celebrate ethnic identity and instill community pride But it was also a way for Mexican Americans to find a place for themselves in American society. It's an aspect of Mexican American history that has been ignored until now."

Bea
Armenta Dever . . . .

The first ten years of my life, my parents Ray and Teresa Armenta
lived in an apartment located behind my grandfather's Meat Market and
Grocery Store on Santa Barbara Avenue between Figueroa and San Pedro
Place in Los Angeles. (This street has since been renamed Martin
Luther King Boulevard.) Paralleling the store was an alley way and
growing up one of the stories we heard often was of the many movie
stars who used this alley way to travel to Wrigley Field out of the
public's eye.

The actor George Raft was mentioned the most since my aunts were
enthralled with him. Those of you that are not familiar with Wrigley
Field it housed the Pacific Coast League. It was built in 1925 as a
replica of Chicago's Wrigley Field and was located what is now South
Central Los Angeles on 42nd Street and Avalon Boulevard. The Los
Angeles Angels played there from 1925 to 1957 and the Hollywood Stars
used the stadium when the Angels were on the road from 1926 to 1935.
In 1939 Gilmore Field was built near the intersection of Beverly
Boulevard and Fairfax near Hollywood as the home for the Hollywood
Stars team.

My recollection of my Dad, Ray Armenta, playing baseball was of his
great love and passion for the game. However, he was not the only
Armenta with this passion. His brothers, Joe, Paul, Tony and Oscar
also played and often times on the same teams in the 1930's and
1940's. Eventually, Joe moved to Tucson, Arizona and the remaining
brothers continued to play. Paul ventured into umpiring and continued
umpiring for another twenty years.

When Dad played at Evergreen Park located in the Boyle Heights
section of East Los Angeles my mom, Teresa de la Fuente Armenta, would
cart the first four children who were ten and under to watch him play
and enjoy family picnics at the park. Dad played on several teams, but
I believe he was playing with the Carmel ita Provisions team at this
time.

Dad was fearless when challenging umpires decisions. To this day I
remember sitting in the bleachers watching Dad as he stood nose to
nose with umpires when he disagreed with their calls (which was most
of the time)! Dad continued playing until he was in his fifties when
he played for the Minnesota Mining and then the Shell Oil Company
teams in Torrance. Recently, I
found a trophy that Dad received when he was playing with the Shell
Oil Company team that they won the 1961 Championship! Over the years, he sustained several
injuries, but it never stopped him from playing. It was just an
inconvenience!

I just wish that my four younger siblings could have experienced
these memories. However, the love and passion for the game has
continued in the Armenta family through the generations that have
followed.

Bea Armenta Dever
Garden Grove, CA

Fritz Armenta . . .

My name is Fritz Armenta
and my father was Ray Armenta. My
father played for Carmelita
Provisions. I can't give you accurate dates, but it had to be
early 1940's. He use to take his whole family to Evergreen Park in
East Los Angeles and Griffith Park. I don't care how old you were,
if you were anywhere near that baseball diamond and my Dad was
playing you had to stop and watch him play because he played with
so much passion. He played 3rd base, 1st
base and sometimes he would catch. He was always whistling or
chattering - encouraging his pitcher and his teammates or
discouraging the batter and the other team. Even when the team was
taking infield practice before the game he was so excited. When he
fielded ground balls, he would dig the balls up and would give a
little hop and then throw to whatever base the opponents were
running to. He never quit if he made a mistake. He never put his
head down, he just kept trying to help his team win the ball game.
He wasn't afraid
of the baseball.

Ramon (Ray) Armenta,
July 1931,
Trinity St/Santa Barbara, Los Angeles

When he played 3rd base, he was always playing up
close so the batter couldn't drag bunt. I remember one time when
he was playing 1st base, the throw pulled him off the
base towards the runner and as he ran by my Dad he tagged him and
as he did, his hand tore between his thumb and his index finger.
All he did was have someone tape it together and he finished the
game at 1st base.

On offense he was a switch hitter.
He could hit for average and power. Whenever he came to bat, the
defense would be watching him to see what he was going to do. When
he would bat left handed, you knew he was going to bunt. He would
twirl his bat and if he like the pitch, he would stick his bat out
to make contact with the ball while he was already running to 1st
base. It was beautiful to watch! Right handed he would hold his
bat a little different and when he liked a pitch he would drop the
bat behind him to hit the ball while he was already taking a step
or two towards first base. He knew that most teams knew the
signals he gave when he drag bunted, but it was a challenge to Dad
and he would drag bunt anyway.

My Dad was so competitive that one day when he was on the field
at the Coliseum in Los Angeles someone asked him if could throw a
ball out of the Coliseum. So, of course, he tried and in the
process he threw his arm out.

I don't know if it was a rumor or fact but it
cost my Dad a tryout with the New
York Yankees.

Ray Armenta was proud to be
Mexican American and he loved the game of baseball. He showed it
by the way he played - with enthusiasm

Ray Armenta, April
1948

A reply from the Barrios to the Big Leagues,

Antonio (Tony) Oros Armenta played baseball from the 30's to the late 40's. He was a Pitcher for the L.A. Aces and the Carmelita Team. Back in those days they faced a lot of Pacific Coast League ball players that went on to the big leagues. He won games against some of the best pitchers in the league. My dad had three brothers that all played for the same teams. As I recall my dad and my uncle Ray started with the Mario Lopez Carmelita Chorizo Team. Lopez was the manager of the team when my dad and uncle played ball for him. I had a lot of memorabilia of my dad but they were all lost in a fire. I kept the tradition of playing city ball going for a few years; the League we were in was the Muney League. We won the championship in 1960 for Ranch Cafe in South L.A. and again in 1962 for the L.A. Bears in south Los Angeles. I still hold a lot of great memories from those times and I am very glad I was able to follow in my fathers footsteps.
Written by his son, Chuck Anthony Armenta

Joe Bravo hs become quite well known for his innovative use of tortillas as a ground for traditional painting. Here's what he has to say about his works: I use the Tortilla as a Canvas because it is an integral of the Hispanic Culture and my heritage. For the subject matter of my tortilla painting, I use imagery that is representative of Latinos conveying their hopes, arts, beliefs, and history. As the tortilla has given us life, I give it new life by using it as a art medium.

The Grand Plaza at the Mexican American Cultural Center has been named in honor of the PEREZ & RAMOS FAMILIES

The Perez – Ramos Families have a long musical tradition that stretches back several generations. The two families are connected by brothers Don Louis Perez and Don Tranquilino Perez. Don Louis Perez and his wife Trinidad are the parents of Elvira Perez who is the mother of Ruben Ramos and Alfonso Ramos. Don Tranquilino Perez and his wife Carolina are the parents of Blas Parez who is the father of Ernest Perez and Ruben Perez.

Ruben Ramos, Alfonso Ramos, Ruben Perez and Ernest Perez have all led their own Tejano orchestras. Ruben and Alfonso have often performed and recorded together. Many of Ruben and Alfonso’s brothers were and continue to be members of their musical groups. In recognition of their accomplishment, Ruben Ramos and Alfonso Ramos have both been inducted into the Tejano Music Hall of Fame. As a member of Los Super Seven, Ruben Ramos is a grammy award winner.

Accomplished local musicians such as Alfonso Ramos and Manuel “Cowboy” Donley played with the Ruben Perez Orchestra early in their careers. In addition to leading his own orchestra, Ernest played in his brother’s orchestra for many years as well as other local groups such as Johnny Degollado and Los Cinco Reyes.

Bilingual:
The
Fan . . . El Abanico by Vincente Riva Palacio
Bilingual: Prayer to the Full Moon
in Times of Outrage, Rafael J. González

THE FAN
EL ABANICO

by Vicente Riva Palacio, translation by Ted Vincent

The following short
story is from "Cuentos del General," the Riva Palacio
anthology published shortly before his death in 1896 in Madrid. He
was then Embassador from Mexico to Spain and his familiarity with
the social elite no doubt assisted him in drawing this humorous
account.

The Marquis
determined to marry and had communicated his desire to his
friends. The news flew with lightening speed through all of high
society. It gave a shot of alarm to all mothers of marriageable
age daughters, and to all young women who were in position and had
the desire to get married, of which there were many.

Because that was so, the Marquis was considered a grand find, as
was said among worldly people. He was thirty-nine years of age,
had high title, much money, was handsome, and felt worn from
having to run the world, always playing a leading role among the
men of his age inside and outside his country.

Moreover, one tires of a life of dissipation. Threads of silver
had made their appearance in his black beard and in his silky
hair; and being a man of intelligence and of no little reading, he
determined to settle down and look for the woman of his dreams to
whom he would give his name and share the pains and joys of home
life for the many remaining years that he intended to live on this
earth.

With the news of his resolution he received no shortage of
seductive offers, nor of maternal care, nor of romantic and happy
attention from the beauties. None of these fit his ideal, and
days, weeks and months passed without a choice being made.

"But Senor," his friends asked him, "How long are
you going to wait to decide?"

"It’s that, I have yet to find the woman that I seek."

"It could be because you see little to gain in marriage among
the women following you. Yet women in abundance are available. Is
not the Countess of the Gold Mine attractive?"

" She is too occupied with her jewels and fine outfits She
thinks more of a string of pearls than of a mate. She’d neglect
her child for the chance to buy a dress at the Worth."

"And the Baroness of Rainbow?"

"Very pretty and a good woman, with a sculptured figure, but
it is well known that with her comes the danger that she would
lose her attractiveness and become a bore to her husband, and she
would be dangerous in her new state of faded beauty."

"And the Duchess of Clear Light?"

"A superb beauty. But she thinks only of amusing herself and
would leave me dying in my house in order not to miss a function
at the Royal hall, and she wouldn’t hesitate to leave her sick
child alone all night to attend a dance at the embassy."

"And the Marquise of Summit Mountain? Is she not both
attractive and a model of virtue?"

"Certainly. But she is more religious than a husband needs.
No pain, no infirmity in the family would impede her from spending
all morning in the church, and she could never chose the bedroom
of her child over a sermon at Lent."

"Truly, you seek an impossible woman."

"No, not impossible. I know that someday we will meet. And
she will not be extraordinarily beautiful, because beauty is, for
a marriage, no more than the appetizer for the lunch. To look for
that will not fill the appetite. Hunger isn’t quelled with
appetizer, and for this, one who seeks marriage doesn’t demand
complete beauty."

* * *

It was an axiom of the Marquis, fruit of readings and of his
worldly experience, that as they say for men and as well for
women, one should not measure them by great deeds, but for
insignificant and day to day actions, for the great acts, as
documented by witnesses or references are always more from
calculation than from one’s own inspiration, They fail to
translate accurately the impulses of the heart and mind. But
through their small actions one sees in women the spontaneity and
intelligence and feelings that these moments are, as the old
saying goes, sufficient for the sample."

* * *

One night there was a grand ball at the British Embassy. The halls
were literally full of beautiful good looking ladies and wealthy
gentlemen - all the flower and cream of the most aristocratic
classes of society. The Marquis was in the dining room, where the
young Countess of the Valley of Gold had come. She was a woman of
twenty years, intelligent, sympathetic and distinguished, but who
drew little attention from her looks, nor was she one of those
beauties whose name always comes to mind when the conversation
turns to fascinating women.

The young Countess was orphaned on her mother’s side, and lived
with her well known and well considered father.

The Countess, after sipping a cup of tea, conversed with a few
friends before returning to the salons.

"But why didn’t I see you last night at the Royal hall?
They sang Tannhauser most admirably," one of them said to
her.

"Well, I had dressed for it. I wanted very much to hear
Tannhausen. I just love that opera."

"And what happened?"

"Its that, I already had the door open, when the Doncella
advised me that Leonor was quite ill. I went to see her, and
nothing could take me from her side."

"And this Leonor?" asked the Marquis, breaking into the
conversation, "Is she someone in your family?"

"Almost Marquis. She is the governess that my mother had; and
as she never left us and I loved her dearly, I see her as of my
family."

"What a precious fan you carry!" said one of the young
people who was speaking with the Countess.

"Without doubt I am enchanted with it, a gorgeous painting
and the ribs and everything, I guard it as if it belongs with my
eyes. It is a present from my father on my Saint’s day. He
bought it in Paris."

"Let me see!, Let me see!" they all exclaimed, and they
gathered tightly around the little Countess, who, with a degree of
childlike satisfaction, fluttered the fan in front of her eyes. It
was genuinely an artistic marvel.

At this moment one of the servants arduously crossed between the
women carrying in his hands an enormous tray of ice-cream. He
tripped, comically, and without the power to stop himself, the
tray hit against the fan, open at that moment, shattering it to
pieces. The ribs were cracked, the cloth torn to shreds and little
was left except fragments that injured the hand of the little
Contessa.

"What a brute!" said one of the elder women.

"An oversized animal!" Exclaimed a caballero.

"He apparently has no eyes," said a young woman.

The poor servant, red with shame and dripping with sweat, could
scarcely mutter an intelligible pardon.

"Don’t worry. Nobody’s dead," said the Countess with
the utmost tranquility. "It wasn’t your fault. We were
blocking your path."

And gathering in her left hand
the remains of the fan, she took with the right hand the arm of
the Marquis, saying quite naturally, "They are playing a
waltz, and I believe I have promised you one. Would you take me to
the dance hall?"

"Yes, Countess; but I will not dance this waltz with
you."

"Why?"

"Because at this moment I go to find your father to tell him
that tomorrow morning I will ask him permission to make you my
wife, and within eight days, sufficient time for all to be
informed, I will know the resolution."

Moon, moon, moon,
godmother of dreams,
lady of the tides,
lay your soft hands of light
upon us & give us comfort;
nightmares gallop
through the plains of grief,
rage fills us to the bone,
& our marrow is frozen by fear,
for on the thrones of power
sit rabid dogs
& in the cradle of writing
blood soaks the sand.

Moon, moon, holy moon,
you who know of madness,
we have wounded the Earth,
& in the halls of government
criminals crowd.
Godmother, give us comfort,
& for the struggle, courage.

Sam Cerra,
Looking Back, One of the quiet ones by Julie Lugo Cerra
The Winning Pig was a Bato Loco
By
Richard G. Santos

Sam Cerra
Looking Back, One of the quiet ones…..

Some of us stand out in front, doing what we love and then
there are the others who quietly work in the background, the
towers of strength in our families. They are often the real
backbone of the community, rarely talk about themselves, and ask
very little of others.

When I first went to work in the City Treasurer’s office in
the late 1960s, I found someone in every department who could
answer questions. Sam Cerra was the one in Engineering. Sam was
quiet, helpful, accurate and an enigma. And he could find
anything! The city was his daytime family. He was known for his
fairness as the loan officer for the credit union, and he enjoyed
bowling in a league with his work buddies.

The Cerras came to California from Yonkers, NY, in 1945—in
search of a better life. The youngest of five children, Sam lived
near city hall with his Italian immigrant parents, three brothers
and sister. The Korean "conflict" scuttled his college
plans, and after returning from his Army tour with malaria, he
stopped into city hall’s Veterans office. Noting his printing
skills, and his time with the Army Corps of Engineers, they sent
him up to the city’s Engineering Department. It took him 40
years to get out!

Sam was a very private person. I learned his father died while
he was in Korea, so on his return he helped his mother care for
two brothers with Multiple Sclerosis. After she passed, the five
children decided to raze the California bungalow and rebuild a
structure for their purposes. Sam’s buddy, Bill Plach, referred
to it as a "Ginney-minium."

Sam never expected to marry, not to mention have a child. But
marry we did in 1974, at home, so his remaining bedridden brother
could be with us. My "happy Italian" was such a favorite
at city hall, they threw a party for us in the council chambers.
On Christmas day the following year, our best gift ever came home
with us from the hospital. And to my delight, she had her daddy’s
dimples.

The wonderful uncle transitioned into a supportive husband and
consummate "Daddy." He was always there for us. He
passed along his calligraphy and camera skills to Michele, and
even participated in Y-father/daughter camping with her, not
exactly his forte. On Father’s Day weekend, he loved driving her
back home from college. He was delighted when she studied in Italy
and found some of his cousins there. He took pride in her
continuing accomplishments, and when she did something silly, he
would chide her with "This is my Phi Beta Kappa?" When
he was diagnosed with heart/lung problems, his biggest worry was
walking our daughter down the aisle without his oxygen tank, which
he did two years ago. And he loved "our red headed son"
we acquired by marriage.

Sam delighted in "needling" that he was first
Republican president of the employees union, where he fought for
benefits better than steel-toed shoes. He was honored as an
outstanding employee more than once, and it was his "Old
English" that appeared on the old city proclamations and
commendations.

Sam’s research skills made him a natural in the Culver City
Historical Society where he served as historic sites chair,
(pinpointing the site of Camp Latham), and president. He loved to
read and play cards with "the boys," and left the PR to
"his girls." He always had time to tend bar at
fundraisers, fold historical society newsletters- or napkins, and
other necessary chores, like picking our grapes so I could make
jelly. He even took out the trash and recycled.

My family was his family. Sam was all about family and friends.
Sam Cerra died on August 30. Like so many quiet folks, he will
leave a hole in our togetherness.

(There will be no memorial service- he will be in our memories.
Donations-unnecessary, but he would probably say Culver City
Historical Society or one’s own favorite charity.)

Julie Lugo Cerra 9-2-07

Photo Caption- Sam was proud to walk Michele, his little
ballerina grown up, down the aisle in 2005.

In the early 1960’s Pepe was a high school football star who, with his closes friends, surprisingly joined the Future Farmers of America. He knew nothing about ranching, raising animals or agriculture. Nonetheless, he decided to raise and enter a pig in competition. In fact, his father owned the Mexican theatre in the barrio that was later converted into the Salon Ideal dance hall. In time the dance hall was relocated and renamed The Wishing Well. The theatre showed Spanish Language movies and hosted the vaudeville shows featuring top Mexican stars such as Pedro Infante, Jorge Negrete, Luis Aguilar, Mario Moreno Cantinflas and others. The dance hall on the other hand featured traditional Tejano conjuntos with the accordion as the lead instrument performing the polkas (Germanic origin), chotiz (Polish schottische), redovas (Polish mazurka) and the huapangos of Tamaulipas origin with the 15th. Century Italian chirana called jarana in Mexico.

The dance hall also featured the early Tejano groups (combos and bands) lead by young up-coming teenage musicians such as Sunny and The Sunliners, Little Joe and the Latinairs, El Conjunto de Paulino Bernal, and even the slightly older Isidro (El Indio) Lopez, Amalia Mendoza, Beto Villa, Ruben Ramos y La Revolucion, Oscar Lawson’s Royal Jesters featuring Dimas Garza as the Latin Breed, and others. Country Western music featuring local artist George Strait as well as early sixties artists such as Charlie Pride and Ernest Tubb were also featured at the famous Wishing Well dance hall.

Notwithstanding that Pepe knew nothing about caring and raising animals and the FFA, he decided to raise a pig! “Feeding the pig corn soon became expensive. Therefore I started collecting the popcorn kernels at the theatre to feed the pig. I also started giving him the left over beer from my father’s Back Cat Bar that was collected in a fifty gallon tank,” says Pepe laughing at his own shenanigans. “The pig ate the popcorn kernels, left over popcorn, drank beer and grew big and fat,” he says laughing!

“One day the FFA teacher asked for our reports and thought I had not kept a record of expenses as my card was blank. I told him what I was feeding the pig and he did not believe me. The following week the teacher took the entire class on a field trip to check our animals. Everyone laughed as my pig was big, fat, drunk with popcorn and kernels all over his pen. The pigs in the other pens were up and moving around and mine just lay there glassy eyed with what seemed a smile on his face!”

“The FFA livestock show finally came around. I bathed, scrubbed, oiled and perfumed the now large, fat, whitish-pink pig and waited for the judges to check and rate all animals. Nobody gave me and my pig a chance but we won! I got $250 and also got my pig back as the buyer decided not to take my alcoholic, beer drinking pig. My father slaughtered the pig and we had lots of food,” says Pepe chuckling as he recalled the experience with glee. At this point it is imperative we tell any young reader “not to try this at home” or better yet, not in your FFA school project!

Incidentally, high school football star, bato loco pig raiser José Pepe Treviño joined the Navy and served in the submarine service. Aboard the diesel powered Picuda, his submarine was among those patrolling the Caribbean during the Cuban Missile Crisis. Stationed at Guantanamo Bay the stories he tells of the submariners’ club (The Gitmo Hilton) are hilarious. On a more serious level, most top-secret assignments during the Cold War are still classified and cannot be openly discussed. Let us say the public still does not know the extent to which the submarine service with its bugging, black-bag jobs contributed to the demise of the porous Iron Curtain and Communist Russia. With the U-2s in the upper atmosphere, satellites in space, the submarines under water and agents in the trenches, the U.S. was able to keep detailed track of all sensitive goings-on behind the Iron Curtain. Nuf zed.

Incidentally, last week’s comments on the Hollywood Park lechuza attacking non-Hispanics is making the rounds via the internet. Juan Marinez in Michigan posted the column. Consequently he and I are getting comments from readers from various states. Internet magazine Somos Primos asked and received permission to carry the column. Meanwhile, I myself emailed it to friends here and there and they are also forwarding the column to others and more comments are coming in. It seems a number of Hispanics, Latinos and Tejanos have fond childhood memories of lechuzas. However, I must note reports of vampire lechuzas leaving bruises on the throat and neck, as well as scratches on the back seem to be limited to the Winter Garden Area of Texas and particularly historic Espantosa Lake. That reminds me of the time I was able to unravel and unmask a report of a Llorona (wailing woman) at the Espantosa who turned out to be a gritona (screaming woman). But that’s a different story.
Hmmmmmmm.

Finally, documentary producer Ken Burns and PBS National specifically erred in excluding Hispanics from their World War II documentary. No amount of excuses or mea culpas can ever correct the damage they have done to the memory, contribution and sacrifices of all Hispanics who served in the war.

Not only did Hispanics serve heroically, many earned Medals of Honors, Silver and Bronze stars and an untold number of Purple Hearts and combat medals in appreciation for their sacrifices. There is no excuse, none will be accepted, and any and all monetary contributions by Hispanics to the local PBS stations that carried the erroneous and highly insulting documentary will be impacted most negatively. We note that even though many local PBS stations produced respective documentaries on Hispanics in World War II, they did not object and without considering the insult to the Hispanic veterans, viewers and contributors, they aired the insulting program. This is especially harmful when one considers the Burns-PBS National documentary will be aired for years to come and shown in schools for present and future generations. Surely there will be an accompanying book and even classroom material and ALL WITHOUT INCLUDING THE HISPANIC MEN AND WOMEN WHO SERVED IN WORLD WAR II. In other words, the insult to those who died in battle, surviving veterans and their families is unacceptable. PBS National, the so-called “educational channel” and Mr. Burns the so-called prime documentary producer and the local stations that aired the series need to be taught a thing or two. The absence of George Washington in their wallets and bank accounts is one way of getting the message across. Que pena PBS, what an unforgivable shame.

Added note: José Pepe Treviño he is the City Manager of Pearsall, Texas.

A 2004 survey by the Rand Corporation found that 45 percent of
Hispanic males and 31 percent of Hispanic females between ages 16
and 21 were very likely to serve in the Armed Forces, compared to 24
percent of White men and 10 percent of White women.

Sent by Dr. Carlos Munoz, Ph.D.

Enrique "Kiki"
Camarena

A Hero’s Legacy

By
Mercy Bautista-Olvera

In October as schools nationwide
will declare "Red Ribbon" week, it is perhaps an ideal time to
reflect on the life of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena. "Kiki"
was a Special Agent of the Drug Enforcement Administration in
Guadalajara, Mexico. On February 7, 1985, Enrique Camarena and his
pilot, Alfredo Zavala Avelar, were kidnapped, tortured, and murdered, by
Mexican drug traffickers.

Enrique "Kiki" Camarena, born on July 26, 1947 in Mexicali,
Mexico; was the son of Daniel Camarena and Dora Salazar-Camarena. His
father originated from Tepic, Nayarit, and his mother from Hermosillo,
Sonora, Mexico. Enrique had two brothers and six sisters, Eduardo,
Ernesto, Bertha, Norma, Myrna, Sandra, Lourdes, and Diana. The oldest,
Eduardo would be killed during the Vietnam War.

To his mother, Enrique was the
protector who took responsibility to help her in whatever she needed. He
was a role model for his brother and sisters and worked hard to provide
for the family. To his siblings, he was a noble and caring brother who
continuously encouraged them to obtain a good education. In 1966, "Kiki"
as he was called by his family and friends graduated from Calexico High
School in Calexico, California.

In1968,
Enrique joined the U.S. Marine Corps for two years. After an honorable
discharge from the Marine Corps and demonstrated his courage as a
firefighter for the City of Calexico. Two years later, he earned an
Associates Degree from Imperial Valley College.

In May 1973, he joined the
Police Department and eventually he was assigned to work as a Narcotics
Investigator. He then joined the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA)
in Calexico. After three years working in Calexico, he was re-assigned
to the Fresno District Office in Northern California. In 1977, he was
transferred to Guadalajara, Mexico. In Guadalajara, Enrique investigated
Mexico’s biggest marijuana traffickers.

During
his 11 years with the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Enrique "Kiki"
Camarena received two "Superior Performance Awards", a
"Special Achievement Award" and posthumously, the Administration’s
"Award of Honor," the highest award granted by the Drug
Enforcement Administration.

Geneva" Mika" and Enrique
Camarena

On February 7, 1985, Enrique and his
wife Mika, planned to meet for lunch; however, five-armed men kidnapped
Enrique as he left the U.S. Consulate. Enrique was 37 years old when he was
tortured and killed.

His wife Mika and their three children, Enrique, Daniel and Erik were
devastated to have lost a loving and devoted husband and father.

Enrique’s childhood and youth
witnessed much pain and despair among his peers and their use of drugs. This
influenced him to take the initiative and become involved in the war against
drugs, unfortunately and ultimately, it cost him his life.

On
March 8, 1985, Agent Camarena's body returned to the United States for burial.
For the DEA and the American public, the 1985 torture and murder of Agent
Camarena marked a turning point in the war on drugs. His violent death caused
Americans to see how violently and deeply, drug trafficking, affected our
nation. Enrique "Kiki" Camarena was a hero and tried hard to stop
the brutality of drug trafficking.

Congressman Duncan Hunter and Enrique’s
high school friend, Henry Lozano, launched youth clubs in Kiki’s hometown of
Calexico, California. Calexico High School teacher, David Dhilon, encouraged
honoring Kiki Camarena’s sacrifices by wearing red ribbons, and pledging to
lead drug-free lives.

Red Ribbon Week gained momentum all
over California and nationwide. Club members presented "The Camarena Club
Proclamation" to First Lady Nancy Reagan, bringing the program national
attention. In 1988, First Lady Nancy Reagan involved herself by promoting the
wearing of Red Ribbons in schools nationwide. The same year the National
Federation of Parents organized the first national Red Ribbon Week, an eight
day-event proclaimed by the U.S. Congress and chaired by President Ronald
Reagan and First Lady Nancy Reagan. Red Ribbon Week also became a symbol of
support for the Drug Enforcement Association’s efforts to promote drug
prevention and education programs.

The tragedy of losing Enrique "Kiki"
Camarena generated a sense of hope nationwide, Red Ribbon events have had an
increasing number of Americans saying "yes’ to a drug free life.

One teacher, Diana Holly and her 5th
grade class from Lugonia Elementary School in Redlands, California, decided to
launch an Enrique "Kiki" Camarena Postal Stamp campaign. Mrs. Holly
retired in 2003 and has not given up; she is still active collecting petitions
to reach this goal.

On
February 8, 2005 Dora Camarena, mother, of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki"
Camarena, attended a memorial service at the Calexico Police Department where
a bust of her son was unveiled. Family and friends paid their respects as
well as about 200 people to honor Enrique Camarena.

NANCEE E.
LEWIS / Union-Tribune

"Unfortunately, a man had to lose
his life in order to move a country, but I can tell you, a country was
moved," Oren Fox, a retired Imperial County sheriff, told the gathering.
Camarena's death, he said, brought much-needed attention and funding to a
raging drug war that until then was largely ignored by politicians and the
public.

"I believe America was just
outraged" by the murder, said Calexico police officer
Eric Hackett. "Americans finally realized how terrible these drugs
are. And they understood that if they can kidnap and torture a Federal
Agent, they can do anything to any of us."

In schools, libraries, and public
buildings; statues and portraits of Enrique "Kiki" Camarena are
display not only nationally, but in Mexico as well. In the U.S., schools have
been re-named in his honor and as recent as 2006 in Mission, Texas, in a newly
constructed school was named after Enrique "Kiki" Camarena.

Special thanks
to Myrna Camarena and Maria Krueger, (Mrs. Holly’s daughter), who through
their kindness and time, provided additional information to this article.

This is the eighth part of the Hispanic Medal of Honor series
which consists of the short biographies of Vietnam War recipients
Emilio A. De La Garza*, Ralph E. Dias*, Daniel Fernandez* and
Alfredo "Freddy" Gonzalez*

Unfortunately, these four heroes
made the ultimate sacrifice by giving their lives in order to save
their fellow men. It would be nice if we could follow the example
of my friend Rafael Ortega and honor all of our Medal of Honor
recipients at least once a year, by creating displays with the
intention of educating our children so that the memory of these
brave soldiers will live on forever.

Lance Corporal De La Garza placed
himself between two Marines and ensued the blast from a grenade;
Private First Class Dias was wounded several time before
destroying at least a couple of enemy machine gun emplacements,
saving the lives of his fellow comrades; Specialist Fourth Class
Daniel Fernandez, like De La Garza, threw himself on a live
grenade, and sacrificed his life to save lives of the soldiers
around him. Sergeant Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez and his platoon were
fired upon by the enemy with rockets and automatic weapons. Almost
single-handedly, Sgt. Gonzalez neutralized the enemy with a
barrage of LAW rockets. He was shot and killed.

I would like to thank my friend
ERcheck who authored three of the articles.

Note: "*" after a name indicates that the person was
awarded the MoH posthumously.

Emilio A. De La Garza

By: ERcheck

Lance Corporal Emilio A. De La
Garza, Jr.,

Emilio Albert De La Garza, Jr. (1949-1970)
was a United States Marine Corps lance corporal who was
posthumously presented the nation's highest honor — the Medal of
Honor — for his heroism in April 1970 in Vietnam.

Early years

Emilio Albert De La Garza, Jr.
was born on June 23, 1949, in East Chicago, Indiana, and graduated
from Washington High School there in 1968. For a year, he was
employed by Inland Steel in East Chicago.

Marine Corps career

De La Garza enlisted in the
United States Marine Corps on February 4, 1969, in Chicago,
Illinois. He received recruit training with the 2nd Recruit
Training Battalion, Recruit Training Regiment at the Marine Corps
Recruit Depot, San Diego, California.

Upon completion of recruit
training, he was ordered to the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton,
California, where he joined the 2nd Infantry Training Regiment and
underwent individual combat training with the 1st and 2nd
Battalions, and weapons training with the Basic Infantry Training
Battalion.

Promoted to private first class
on July 1, 1969, he arrived in the Republic of Vietnam on the July
25, 1969 for duty as an ammo carrier with Company H, 2nd
Battalion, 3rd Marines, 3rd Marine Division. On September 29,
1969, he was reassigned to the 1st Marine Division and served as a
Marine Corps exchange man with Headquarters and Service Company,
2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, until the following December. He was
promoted to lance corporal on February 1, 1970.

Corporal De La Garza then joined
Company E, 2nd Battalion, 1st Marines, 1st Marine Division. While
serving as a machine gunner on a squad size patrol with the 3nd
Platoon of Company E, approximately four miles south of Da Nang on
April 11, 1970, he was mortally wounded by a grenade as he placed
himself between the blast and two fellow Marines.

His medals and decorations
include: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Combat Action
Ribbon, the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service
Medal with one bronze star, and the Republic of Vietnam Campaign
Medal.

Medal of Honor citation

LANCE CORPORAL EMILIO A. DE LA
GARZA, JR.

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of
duty while serving as a machine gunner with Company E, Second
Battalion, First Marines, First Marine Division, in the Republic
of Vietnam on April 11, 1970. Returning with his squad from a
night ambush operation, Lance Corporal De La Garza joined his
Platoon commander and another Marine in searching for two enemy
soldiers who had been observed fleeing for cover toward a small
pond. Moments later, he located one of the enemy soldiers hiding
among the reeds and brush. As the three Marines attempted to
remove the resisting soldier from the pond, Lance Corporal De La
Garza observed him pull the pin on a grenade. Shouting a warning,
Lance Corporal De La Garza placed himself between the other two
Marines and the ensuing blast from the grenade, thereby saving the
lives of his comrades at the sacrifice of his own. By his prompt
and decisive action, and his great personal valor in the face of
almost certain death, Lance Corporal De La Garza upheld and
further enhanced the finest traditions of the Marine Corps and the
United States Naval Service.

Ralph E. Dias

By: Ercheck

Private First Class Ralph E. Dias

Private First Class Ralph Ellis
Dias (1950-1969) was a
United States Marine who was posthumously awarded the Medal of
Honor for heroism in Vietnam in November 1969.

Ralph Dias was born on July 15,
1950, in the Pittsburgh DMA, specifically Indiana County,
Pennsylvania. He graduated from elementary school in 1965, then
attended Elderton Joint High School in Shelocta, Pennsylvania, for
two years.

He enlisted in the United States
Marine Corps on October 9, 1967, at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and
underwent recruit training with the 2nd Recruit Training
Battalion, Marine Corps Recruit Depot, Parris Island, South
Carolina.

Upon completion of recruit
training in December, he was transferred to the 2nd Infantry
Training Battalion, 1st Infantry Training Regiment, Camp Lejeune,
North Carolina, for special infantry training. In February 1968,
he was ordered to the Marine Corps Base, Camp Pendleton,
California, for duty with Company B, 1st Battalion, 28th Marines,
5th Marine Division.

In April 1969, he was ordered to
the Republic of Vietnam for duty as a rifleman with Company D, 1st
Battalion, 7th Marines, 1st Marine Division, Fleet Marine Force.
Private Dias was killed in action on November 12, 1969, while
participating in combat in Quang Nam Province. His heroic actions
on that date were recognized with his nation's highest military
honor — the Medal of Honor.

His medals and decorations
include: the Medal of Honor, the Purple Heart, the Combat Action
Ribbon, the Meritorious Unit Commendation with one bronze star,
the National Defense Service Medal, the Vietnam Service Medal with
three bronze stars, the Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit
Commendation (Gallantry Cross Color) with palm and frame, the
Republic of Vietnam Meritorious Unit Commendation (Civil Action
Medal, First Class Color) with palm and frame, and the Republic of
Vietnam Campaign Medal with device.

Medal of Honor citation

PRIVATE FIRST CLASS RALPH E. DIAS

UNITED STATES MARINE CORPS

for service as set forth in the
following CITATION:

For conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of
duty, while serving as a Rifleman with Company D, First Battalion,
Seventh Marines, First Marine Division in the Republic of Vietnam
on November 12, 1969. As a member of a reaction force which was
pinned down by enemy fire while assisting a platoon in the same
circumstance, Private First Class Dias, observing that both units
were sustaining casualties, initiated an aggressive assault
against an enemy machine gun bunker which was the principal source
of hostile fire. Severely wounded by enemy snipers while charging
across the open area, he pulled himself to the shelter of a nearby
rock. Braving enemy fire for a second time, Private First Class
Dias was again wounded. Unable to walk, he crawled fifteen meters
to the protection of a rock located near his objective and,
repeatedly exposing himself to intense hostile fire,
unsuccessfully threw several hand grenades at the machine gun
emplacement. Still determined to destroy the emplacement, Private
First Class Dias again moved into the open and was wounded a third
time by sniper fire. As he threw a last grenade which destroyed
the enemy position, he was mortally wounded by another enemy
round. Private First Class Dias' indomitable courage, dynamic
initiative, and selfless devotion to duty upheld the highest
traditions of the Marine Corps and the United States Naval
Service. He gallantly gave his life in service to his country.

In memory

The name Ralph E. Dias is
inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("The Wall")
on Panel 16W, Line 063 .

Daniel Fernandez

By: Ercheck

Specialist Fourth Class Daniel
Fernandez

Daniel Fernandez (born
June 30, 1944- February 18, 1966) recipient of the Medal of Honor.
Fernandez awarded the United States' highest military decoration
for valor in combat for his actions in Hau Nghia Province,
Republic of Vietnam in February 1966 — throwing himself on a
live grenade, he sacrificed his life to save lives of the soldiers
around him.

Medal of Honor citation

For conspicuous gallantry and
intrepidity at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of
duty. Sp4c. Fernandez demonstrated indomitable courage when the
patrol was ambushed by a Viet Cong rifle company and driven back
by the intense enemy automatic weapons fire before it could
evacuate an American soldier who had been wounded in the Viet Cong
attack. Sp4c. Fernandez, a sergeant and 2 other volunteers
immediately fought their way through devastating fire and
exploding grenades to reach the fallen soldier. Upon reaching
their fallen comrade the sergeant was struck in the knee by
machine gun fire and immobilized. Sp4c. Fernandez took charge,
rallied the left flank of his patrol and began to assist in the
recovery of the wounded sergeant. While first aid was being
administered to the wounded man, a sudden increase in the accuracy
and intensity of enemy fire forced the volunteer group to take
cover. As they did, an enemy grenade landed in the midst of the
group, although some men did not see it. Realizing there was no
time for the wounded sergeant or the other men to protect
themselves from the grenade blast, Sp4c. Fernandez vaulted over
the wounded sergeant and threw himself on the grenade as it
exploded, saving the lives of his 4 comrades at the sacrifice of
his life. Sp4c. Fernandez' profound concern for his fellow
soldiers, at the risk of his life above and beyond the call of
duty are in the highest traditions of the U.S. Army and reflect
great credit upon himself and the Armed Forces of his country.

In memory

Daniel Fernandez has his name
inscribed on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ("The Wall")
on Panel 05E, Row 046

Daniel Fernandez is buried in
Santa Fe National Cemetery.

Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez

By: ChuchoHuff

Sergeant Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez

Sergeant Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez (also
known as Alfredo Gonzalez and Freddy Gonzalez) (born May 23, 1946
in Edinburg, Texas; died February 4, 1968 in Hue City, Vietnam),
United States Marine Corps sergeant who posthumously received the
Medal of Honor for service in the Vietnam War during the Battle of
Hue.

Early life

Freddy Gonzalez was the child of
Andrés Cantu and Dolia Gonzalez. He was raised by his mother in
Edinburg, where he played on the Edinburg High School football
team and graduated in 1965. On June 3 of that same year, Gonzalez
travelled to San Antonio, Texas, to enlist in the United States
Marine Corps Reserve. A little more than a month later, on July 6,
he enlisted in the regular Marines Corps. Pvt. Gonzalez went
through recruit training in September and individual combat
training in October before being transferred to Vietnam in January
1966. That same month, Pvt. Gonzalez was promoted to a Private
First Class.

First Tour: January 1966 to
January 1967

PFC Gonzalez served as a rifleman
and squad lead during his first tour in Vietnam. He was promoted
to lance corporal in October and to corporal in December.

Cpl. Gonzalez returned to the
United States in January 1967. He was stationed at Camp Lejeune in
North Carolina to prepare recruits for guerrilla warfare; he
ultimately wanted to be transferred to the Naval Air Station in
Corpus Christi, Texas. Here he would be 150 miles (approximately a
two hours' drive) away from Edinburg, where his mother, girlfriend
(Delia Becerra) , and other friends lived. Cpl. Gonzalez's plan
was to spend the rest of his time in Corpus Christi, then return
home to Edinburg when his time with the Marines was over.

However, several months after
Cpl. Gonzalez returned to the United States, he learned of an
entire platoon that was ambushed and killed. Cpl. Gonzalez felt
responsible for the deaths of some of these men as some of them
had served under him while he was in Vietnam. Cpl. Gonzalez then
volunteered for a second tour.

Second Tour: July 1967 to
February 1968

Cpl. Gonzalez was transferred to
Camp Pendleton in California in May 1967 in preparation of sending
him back to Vietnam. He was promoted to sergeant on July 1 and
shipped out later that month.

On January 31, 1968, Sgt.
Gonzalez was the platoon sergeant of a platoon of marines that was
bringing relief to Hue City, Vietnam via a truck convoy. As the
truck convoy neared the village of Lang Van Lrong, Viet Cong
soldiers, dressed as civilians, attacked. Gonzalez and his troops
counter-attacked and drove the enemy soldiers away. One Marine who
was atop a tank was hit and fell off the tank. Sgt. Gonzalez was
wounded when he ran through heavy fire to retrieve the wounded
Marine. Several days later, on February 3, he was wounded again,
but refused medical treatment, ordering the medics to take care of
the other Marines.

On February 4, Sgt. Gonzalez and
his platoon engaged the Viet Cong, who were holed up in St. Joan
of Arc Catholic Church in Hue City, firing at the Americans with
rockets and automatic weapons. Almost single-handedly, Sgt.
Gonzalez neutralized the enemy with a barrage of LAW rockets. When
it became quiet, it was thought that all of the Viet Cong inside
the church had been killed. However, one had survived, and he shot
and killed Sgt. Gonzalez.

Military Awards and Other Honors

Sgt. Gonzalez is buried at
Hillcrest Cemetery in Edinburg. The Hidalgo County Historical
Museum, also in Edinburg, has his uniform and medals on display.

In addition to the Medal of
Honor, Sgt. Gonzalez also received the following military medals:
the Purple Heart
the Vietnam Presidential Unit
Citation
the National Defense Service
Medal
the Vietnam Service Medal with
two bronze stars
the Vietnam Gallantry Cross with
palm
the Vietnam Military Merit Medal
the Republic of Vietnam Campaign
Medal
the Texas Legislative Medal of
Honor

The USS Gonzalez, a destroyer
commissioned for the United States Navy, is named in his honor.
Sgt. Gonzalez's sacrifice has also been honored by the following:
Alfredo Cantu Gonzalez American
Legion Post in Edinburg, Texas
Alfredo Gonzalez Athletic Award
at Edinburg High School in Edinburg
Alfredo Gonzalez Boulevard at
Camp Lejeune in North Carolina
Alfredo Gonzalez Dining Hall at
the Naval Air Station in Corpus Christi, Texas
Freddy Gonzalez Drive in Edinburg
Freddy Gonzalez Elementary School
in Edinburg
Alfredo Gonzalez Veterans Home,
McAllen, Tx
Alfredo Gonzalez Hall, Instructor
Training Battalion Headquarters Building, The Basic School,
Quantico, VA

Sgt. Gonzalez's name can be found
on the Vietnam Veterans Memorial. It is located on panel 37E, row
021.

I hope that you all are enjoying
this series. In next months issue of "Somos Primos" you will learn about Miguel Keith*,
Carlos James Lozada*, Alfred V. Rascon and Louis R. Rocco.

Did you
know that Hispanics were significant contributors to the success
of the American colonies in their struggle for independence from
Great Britain? Did you know that Spain provided funding,
supplies, and military intelligence to George Washington's
army? Did you know that Hispanic soldiers from the Americas
as well as the Spanish peninsula fought against the British?
You're cordially invited to attend Hispanic Participation in the
American Revolution and learn about these well documented, yet
little know, facts of our country's history.

Historical reenactors will
present scenes of 18th century military and civilian life.
Activities will include tactical demonstrations with live musket
fire, lectures on Hispanic contribution to the American Wary of
Independence, recreated military camp, period music, and
children's activities. Bring along your family and friends to this
unforgettable event.

Know the origins and history of your noble surname. From the names
early beginning in the ancient Kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula, to
how it settled in the New World. You carry a Spanish surname now know
where it began, along with a corresponding Coat of arms.

Ramon Vasquez Y Sanchez has been a Spanish Heraldry
consultant in San Antonio, Texas, since 1979. He studied under the
auspices of Don Fernando Muñoz Altea, king of Arms to Royal Highness,
Prince don Raniero Barbón dos Sicilias. Knight of the "Sacra
Orden Militar Constantiniana de San Jorge." Vasquez Y Sanchez is
a former columnist of "La Prensa de San Antonio" where he
wrote the "Apellidos." Articles have been written about his
work and he was recently featured as a guest speaker in Good Morning
San Antonio on Channel 5 T.V. He has also lectured in different
organization, clubs and universities.

His services "Origins," a packet of the
origins and history of a family’s surname, a history of the Spanish
surnames and how they came to be, a short history of Spanish
Coat-of-Arms and a color copy or original of the corresponding Coat of
Arms.

Backpacks for Kids, distributed at
the Abrazar Center in Westminster
Oct 6th: Veteran interview on Westminster City Cable 3,
5 pm
National Public Radio
Orange County Register
Orange County 1800s Cultural Intermarrying
The Basque Connection in Orange County

BACKPACKS FOR KIDSWestminster, CA September 8, 2007

Backpacks for Kids Program collected and purchased nearly 1000 backpacks stocked with school supplies for students in the Westminster School District.

Sergio Contreras, (far right, blue shirt), Westminster School Board Trustee,
assisted by School Board Trustee David Bridgewater organized the Backpacks for Kids
Program and with the help of members of LULAC Chapter 3017 and the following
sponsors:

Westminster City Mayor Margie Rice, first row and a red
blouse. Behind, Mayor Rice, carrying a backpack is State Senator, Lou
Correa. In the center, Gloria Reyes, Abrazar Director sits next to
Westminster School District Superintendent, Sharon Nordheim.
Sergio Contreras, School Board Trustee, blue shirt on the far right.

On Saturday October 6th, Westminster City cable 3,
5 pm

The third in a series of three Latino veterans interviews, facilitated
by Westminster LULAC Chapter 3017 and SHHAR. Lupe Fisher, Cultural
Arts Commissioner, does a marvelous job as the interviewer. Do try
and catch the last in the series. The other two interviews are
being shown sporadically throughout the week.

LaVada Cordasco is the City Cable TV Production Supervisor.
The series has been very well received. We are hoping to do more
interviews with our veterans. Please take the time to call the
city and tell them how much you enjoyed the program.
714-898-3311

National Public Radio, aired a program by
Richard Gonzales on Latinos Veterans of WWII on Sunday September 23.
Go to www.npr.org, click on Richard
Gonzales to hear the program.

For Hispanic Heritage Month, the Orange County Register
is doing a series of profiles on Hispanic
veterans of World War II

Read the story of James Perez who served his country on horseback
and from the bench.

I invite you to share these links with others who may be interested.
Ron Gonzales, Orange County Register, (949) 454-7334

World War II Daily is a website produced by Steve Rubin. It has a
website with a daily radio program produced from records of the times.
www.WW2daily.com

Check Local
Listings to see when it is airing on your local PBS station. Let us honor our family members who served in WWII by letting media
producer and distributors know if they have aired something appropriate
to the month.

A full afternoon of activties were planned for the
neighborhood. Social, Civic, public, and business booths were set
up on the street. In addition to exhibits such as the fancy souped-up
low-rider cars, the Fire Department explained the Fire truck
capabilities. A stage was set up at the end of the street. When
the entertainment started, many people came out of their homes and
watched. Well done!!

Juan Pacifico Ontiveros was the grandson of a soldier who come from Mexico to California in 1781. Juan received the Rancho San Juan Cajon de Santa Ana grant in Orange County. He married Maria Martina Osuna in 1825. Their children's and grandchildren's and great grandchildren's marriages demonstrate the cultural mix and intermingling of Spanish blood lines with other groups. Notice the great grandchildren have lost Spanish given names, as well as surnames.

The Pyrenees mountain range separates Spain and France. The Basque
occupy the range, speaking both the language of their county and the
Basque language of Euskara. Their relationships with one another do not
appear to observe the political boundaries, interacting freely with each
other. Many Hispanics researchers have stumbled upon Basque lines on
their pedigrees. Between 1860-1890, Basque migrated to Southern
California and entered into sheep raising and general farming.

The following couples established homes and have descendants in Southern
California:

Congratulations to Elizabeth Swartz Until Oct 14th: David Alfaro Siqueiros Exhibit ContinuesCenter
for the Study of Political Graphics
Until Oct 27: Young Korean-American Artists and Chicano Art Icon

Elizabeth Swartz

By
Mercy Bautista-Olvera

Elizabeth with mother, Mercy
Elizabeth Maricella was born in Los Angeles,
California.
She is the maternal granddaughter of
Marcelino R. Bautista
and Anastacia Nuñez.

To allow her single-working mother to provide for the
single-parent family, Elizabeth attended Graham Child Daycare Center in
Los Angeles; eventually she would be in the care of loving neighbors,
Jose and Cruzita Solórzano. Cruzita’s care and love for Elizabeth was
a blessing, her small family loved Elizabeth as their own and her sons
treated her as a little sister. To allow Elizabeth’s mom to continue
her education, Elizabeth and two older sisters were regularly cared for
by an older cousin.

Elizabeth with
Cruzita

Upon her mother’s remarriage, Elizabeth and the
family moved to Monterey Park, California. Here she attended pre-school
and Bella Vista Elementary School. On Saturday mornings, she attended
the Los Angeles Music and Art School. Enrolled in singing lessons, she
performed in such musicals as "Annie." Elizabeth now states
that her stepfather and mother were very influential with her beliefs
about education. Furthermore, she says that during her childhood her
parents were always enthusiastic about her schoolwork and activities and
helped her with her homework. Her stepfather brought her books from the
library and continuously encouraged her to read. Her mother, working as
a Teacher’s Assistant at the time, often brought her to her school to
participate in activities. On one such activity, Elizabeth was dressed
as an Elf and her mother as Santa Clause. Elizabeth stated recently that
she always admires her parent’s hard work and strong beliefs in
education.

While Elizabeth’s maternal grandmother, Anastacia
"Mamá Tacha" took care of her sometimes as a toddler, she
passed away when Elizabeth was just 2 years old.

Elizabeth loved spending time with her grandfather
"Papá Chelo." A gentle and loving man he would give her
animal crackers and made time to play with her,
Elizabeth with "Papá Chelo

In the early 1990’s the family moved to La Puente,
California, Here Elizabeth attended Sunset Elementary School. Here
during the school’s annual "Talent Show," she sang and
danced a Whitney Houston song. She would later attend Edgewood
Intermediate School and when the family moved to West Covina, she
attended and then graduated from Nogales High School.

Elizabeth in Dream Street Singers Elizabeth with Kenpo Karate award

During her freshman, sophomore and junior years at
Nogales High, Elizabeth performed in many choir groups such as "The
Silhouettes", "Madrigals, and "Dream Street
Singers." The choirs competed against other schools, and school
districts. These competitions performed at such locations as Fullerton
College and other campuses. One of her favorite performance was at
Disneyland.

During this time, she enrolled in Kenpo Karate
classes. For four years, she trained and competed in San Bernardino and
within the Southern California area; she ultimately reached the level of
"purple belt."

In her junior year in high school, Mr. Ludlow became
her favorite teacher. He taught history in a Socratic way (the art
of questioning about our beliefs and doubts about history). This
form of teaching helped her to prepare for college and what was expected
of her in the future. It also helped her not to take education for
granted.

Elizabeth states that during her high school years.
God was her inspiration and role model, "If it was not for Him, I
would not be where I am today." The church was very inspirational
and encouraged her to strive for higher goals. Julie Papavic was a
great friend and teacher to Elizabeth. When Elizabeth became a teen
leader in the teen ministry, it inspired her to become more of a role
model and counselor.

After graduating from High School, Elizabeth moved
out and lived with her friends from church. She attended Citrus College
in Glendora, California, and later, Mt. San Antonio College in Walnut,
California.

Elizabeth worked part-time at a
Robinsons-May
department store and in various accounting firms. She has maintained a
busy life: working, college, and church. It was a struggle working
full-time and taking college classes at night, but she persevered.

Elizabeth met Jeff Swartz in California; they fell in
love and married in Kansas on August 25, 2001, where Jeff’s maternal
grandparents Robert De Forest and DeMaye Pruitt-De Forest live. The
couple decided to make Paola, Kansas their home, eventually moved to Lee’s
Summit, Missouri.

Working full time, Elizabeth found time to attend
MidAmerica Nazarene University in Olathe, Kansas. On May 8, 2005,
Elizabeth received her Bachelors Degree in Psychology and later on May
5, 2007, she received her Master of Arts in Counseling with a 4.00 GPA
and a Dean’s list recipient on both occasions.

Elizabeth did her undergraduate internship at Lake
Mary Center in Paola, working with emotionally disturbed adolescents.
She loved helping them with their schoolwork and being a personal
mentor. Her second internship was at Advice and Aid Pregnancy Center in
Overland Park in which she counseled young women.

Elizabeth’s graduate practicum was at Safehome,
which is a domestic violence shelter. She helped lead family group
counseling for shelter clients based on play-therapy techniques. In
addition, she provided individual and family counseling for outreach
clients who did not live in the shelter. She also worked full-time
simultaneously during graduate school as a Case Manager for the State of
Kansas at SRS (Social Rehabilitation Services) in Overland Park, KS.

Elizabeth has become a most amazing and ambitious
young women. She is a high achiever in all academic areas and a great
role model for her nieces and nephews, most especially her younger
siblings, and a source of pride and encouragement from her older sisters
are as well (not to mention her parents),

Elizabeth strives to obtain her goals, with integrity
and self-assurance. She is proud of her heritage and living in Kansas
has not always been easy for her. As most of the people have been very
nice, she has encountered some difficulties as a Mexican-American in an
area that is pre-dominantly Anglo. Nevertheless, with her strong beliefs
in God, she is able to show love and respect in return. Elizabeth
counsels under-privileged people, encouraging them for a better life.
She is proud to educate her peers about the Mexican culture. She has no
tolerance for prejudice and is a positive role model to Hispanics and
others. She says that her Hispanic culture represents a people who are
hardworking, persevering, loyal, loving and family-oriented.

After taking a year off from school for a
well-deserved rest, Elizabeth is planning to return to school and
complete a Doctorate Degree program in Psychology. Her long-term goal is
to become involved or manage her own recreational/counseling teen center
for inner-city youth. Such a center she feels could help deter youths
from gangs, drugs and alcohol. Her wish for all minority adolescents is
to be encouraged, challenged, and supported; and given more
opportunities to be successful while serving people in the community.
Elizabeth and Jeff are planning to make California their home in the
near future.

José Vera Fine Art and Antiques is currently featuring David Alfaro Siqueiros (1896 - 1974) exhibit. Siqueiros is known as one of Mexico’s “three greats”, along with Diego Rivera and Jose Clemente Orozco.

Born in Chihuahua and trained at the Instituto Nacional de Bellas Artes in Mexico City, Siqueiros was a political activist as well as an artist. His exterior frescoes (or murals) focused on dynamic revolutionary themes to inspire the lower classes. His bold and vivid paintings depicted the struggle against fascism and other progressive themes. In the final decade of his life, Siqueiros set up a workshop in Cuernavaca and painted his most ambitious work, a huge mural called "The March of Humanity."
The exhibit at José Vera Fine Art and Antiques features approximately forty of Siqueiros’s originals.

José Vera Fine Art and Antiques is located in historic Eagle Rock, at 2012 Colorado Blvd. The exhibit runs until Sunday, October 14th.
In addition to this remarkable exhibit, the gallery specializes in important rare cultural and architectural pieces, including original period Arts and Crafts & Mission furniture, pottery, tiles and other decorative arts; Native American art and textiles; Mexican and Chicano art by top-tier artists.

Native American Art and Textiles:
The gallery offers an excellent selection of hard-to-find Native American Art and textiles, including antique Navajo rugs.

Mexican and Chicano Art:
The gallery also offers an excellent selection of fine art by well known Mexican artists, including Rufino Tamayo, Jose Clemente Orozco, David Alfaro Siqueiros, Pablo O'Higgins, Carlos Merida, Jose Luis Cuevas, Miguel Covarrubias, and other artists from Mexico's great Taller the Grafica Popular.
This Chicano fine art collection includes work by such famous artists as Patssi Valdez, Carlos Almaraz, Irene Carranza, Cici Gonzalez, George Yepes, David Botello, and many more.

Many available items from our collection on our website: www.joseveragallery.com
, or by visiting the gallery. The gallery is located at 2012 Colorado Blvd., Eagle Rock, CA 90041.
Regular Business Hours are Wed – Sunday from 11 am – 6 pm. Gallery Phone: 323.258.5050

Center
for the Study of Political Graphics:
Celebrate the Art of ResistanceSaturday, October 13, 2007
6:30pm
Union Station, 800 North Alameda
Downtown L.A.

The Center for the Study of Political Graphics (CSPG) invites
you to celebrate 18 years of using art to inspire social change at the
historic Union Station in Downtown Los Angeles. There will be a fantastic dinner, entertainment, great company, a
dynamic poster presentation, and an auction of vintage posters and
original artworks, and
Please join us as we honor these outstanding individuals:

CSPG is an educational and research archive that collects,
preserves, documents, and circulates domestic and international
political posters relating to historical and contemporary movements for
social change. With more than 60,000 domestic and international
graphics, CSPG has the largest collection of post-World War II political
graphics in the country. Through traveling and online exhibitions,
presentations, and publications, CSPG is reclaiming the power of art to
inspire people to action. Visit our website www.politicalgraphics.org
to find digital exhibitions, descriptions of traveling exhibitions,
online shopping, and more. If you need more information, contact Mary Sutton or Katy Robinson at
323.653.4662. http://www.politicalgraphics.org/home.html

ANDLAB in association with the Ministry of Culture presents: Cruisin' with
Magu, a cross cultural artistic exploration between one of the founding artists of the Chicano Art Movement, Gilbert "Magu" Lujan, and a group of
local Korean-American youth artists. A reception for the artists and their
new work will be held on Saturday, September 15th, 6:00-8:00 pm, at the
ANDLAB, located in the Brewery Arts Complex at 600 Moulton Avenue. #303, Los
Angeles, CA 90031. Free admission and parking. The exhibit will run through
October 27, 2007. Designed as part of ANDLAB's education program,
Cruisin' with Magu brought together a group of Korean-American youth who spent three
months utilizing Magu's color palette as a point of departure. These young
artists ventured into Chicano art forms and context, adding their own sense
of creativity and cultural information. The resulting work is two mural size
canvases that are startling renditions of contemporary vision and ancient
tradition, which reflect many facets of living in a pluralistic, transnational and multi-culturally modern Los Angeles.

Sunook Park, Director of ANDLAB and associate professor at California State
University, Long Beach's Department of Art, states: "These students have
been committed to an intense training in art and design disciplines, highlighted by the mentorship of Magu and ANDLAB's teaching staff. As part
of their ongoing education they are challenged to apply their design and
artistic expressions to create a collaborative piece that not only builds a
bridge between generations, but more importantly, across cultures."

Park adds, " These students are first and second generation Korean-Americans who are still developing their identity. At home they live
with immigrant parents who embody the values of an ancient culture, and outside they live side by side youth who are
predominantly Latino/Chicano. At home they subscribe to My Space like many others, but at the same time to
cyworld, the Korean version of My Space. They are at a critical point of
their young lives where their future interaction with their neighbors depends on their present involvement."

Gilbert "Magu" Lujan is universally regarded as one of the early leaders of
the Chicano Art Movement, and was a founding member of the group LOS FOUR,
the first group of Chicano artists to get an exhibition at the Los Angeles
County Museum of Art. Over the years he has continued to inspire and mentor
artists through his own work, including numerous public art projects, his
Mental Menudo forums, several collaborative spaces, as well as his teaching
and publications.

I
bring to your attention a very serious concern that affects
the education of all present and future students in California
schools. The current enrollment of our Latino and Latina
students in California public schools is now 3,026,956 or
48.15% of the total enrollment of 6,286,943. Soon Latinos will
be the largest ethnic group enrolled in the schools and in
many districts the enrollment of Latinos is already in the
high 70% -90% level.

It
is because of our concern and push for all students to receive
the best education possible that I, on behalf of the national
Defend The Honor Campaign, bring to your attention this issue
on the historical, military, social and economic exclusion of
the Latino and Latina WWII experience in the just released
(September11, 2007) book THE WARAn Intimate History
1941-1945 and soon to be aired (September 23, 2007) PBS
15 hour Documentary by Ken
Burns and Geoffrey C. Ward.

The
issue of the exclusion of the Latino and Latina WWII
experience is not new to you because it was brought to your
attention in a letter (attached) dated May 30, 2007 by Mr.
Nick Aguilar, Trustee District 2 of the San Diego County Board
of Education. Mr. Aguilar is a Vietnam veteran (Airborne) and
highly respected member of our community. His words then and
now more than ever are crucial and consistent with our opinion
on THE WAR book and film documentary. He states that these two
products do not meet “California’s
adoption standards for evaluating classroom materials.”He states unequivocally that education policy on
materials require all education products to:

“present
accurate and a variety of perspectives based on the best
recent scholarship”

“include
the contributions of different demographic groups with
emphasis on California’s
heritage”

“project
cultural diversity and instill in each child a sense of
pride in his/her heritage”

Like
Mr. Aguilar, we, Defend The Honor Campaign, believe these
requirements are not met by the just released book THE WARAn Intimate History 1941-1945 nor the 15 hour film
documentary THE WAR by Ken
Burns and PBS.We have reviewed all
451 pages; hundreds of photos and illustrations in the book
and our findings are the following:

Introduction
– no Latinos or Latinas

Written
text -No Latinos or Latinas

Photos
– No Latinos or Latinas

Acknowledgements- No Latinos or Latinas

Illustration
Credits – No Latinos or Latinas

Extensive Bibliography – No Latinos or Latinas

Index
– No Latinos or Latinas

Film
Credits – No Latinos or Latinas

We
believe a through review analysis of THE WAR film documentary
will result in the same finding with the exception of two
Hispanic WWII veterans being “added-on” to the documentary
in an attempt to appease the Latino community.We
are of the strong opinion that two extremely short add-on
interviews of approximately 15-18 minutes in a 15 hour
national documentary do not represent the Latino and Latina
WWII experience and worst, is a misrepresentation of our
history. Our history is a “heritage of valor” and these
two products represent a complete disservice to our community
and dishonor our American patriots.

We
request that your review of the materials results in a
disqualification “due to gross inaccuracies” and against
the standards set by your office and the California Board of
Education. We would appreciate a respond to our request.Thank you.

Respectfully,

Gus
Chavez, Co-founder

Defend
The Honor Campaign

4674
Esther Street

San Diego, California 92115

NORTH PARK TO COMMEMORATE
HISPANIC HERITAGE MONTH WITH FIRST ANNUAL MARIACHI FESTIVAL.

(SAN DIEGO, CA)- Claire De Lune Coffee Shop,
North Park is pleased to present an afternoon of the finest in
family entertainment, spotlighting the best in Hispanic music,
vocals and dance. The day’s event will be emceed by Gil
Sperry, author of the award winning, best selling book,
"Mariachi for Gringos" and will feature three
spectacular mariachi bands and dancers.

Where: Sunset Ballroom,
Adjacent to Claire De Lune 2904 University Ave, North Park, San
Diego

When: Sunday,
October 14th (Noon - 5pm) Cost: $25
Family Special: one child, 14 and under,
will be admitted free with each paying adult
Info: 619-887-9288, 619-688-9845, or
760-564-3112

Performers will include Miguel de Hoyos,
Baja California's internationally acclaimed acoustical
guitarist/vocalist; Sol de Mexico Ballet Folklorico, the
award winning Riverside County dance troupe; and Mariachi Real
de San Diego, our city's ultimate masters of their genre. In
addition, Claire de Lune will be preparing the finest in
ethnic foods, beverages, and desserts that will be available for
purchase before, after, and during the festival's intermission.

For the past twenty years, Senor de Hoyos' elegance
and virtuosity have captivated worldwide audiences of all ages.
After earning his post-graduate degree at the Universidad
Regiomontana in his hometown of Monterrey, MX, he toured his
country and Europe with the concert group, La Guitarra Por El
Mundo. A small sampling of his many credits includes performing:
for Nobel Laureate in Literature, Octavio Paz; at Guanajuato's
world famous Cervantino Festival, at Valle de Guadalupe's
"Fiesta de la Vendimia," at the 10th Annual Dresden
(Germany) Guitar Festival; with Spain's Rafael, Peru's Tania
Libertad, Mexico's Jorge Muniz, and with Romania's "Le Fette
De La Music,"sponsored by the governments of France and
Holland. He has also recorded three CD's that will be available at
the event: "Sevilla Suite," "Celebration," and
"Serenade Romantica." This is a rare local appearance by
this guitar legend.

Sol de Mexico Ballet Folklorico
were the winners of this year's ' University of California,
Riverside Annual Folklorico Competition. Four recent appearances
testify to their consummate professionalism and artistic
sensibility: the Mariachi Holiday Festival at the Pond in Anaheim,
the Los Angeles County Fair in Pomona, the National Date Festival
in Indio and the Mexican Independence Celebration at Riverside
Plaza. Their directors...Carmen Dominguez, Rosalinda Salvadori,
Edgar Farias, and Stevan Flores... are all dedicated to the common
goal of furthering 'la belleza, la cultura, la danza.

Mariachi Real de San Diego was founded
in 1978 by Senor Pedro Gonzalez. The band has played at two NFL
Super Bowls, Major League Baseball's World Series, as well as its
All Star Game, and countless festivals & special events.
Recent appearances have included last 'Cinco de Mayo' at Old Town
San Diego, the 'Fiesta Con los Padres" at Petco Park and the
local area 'Championship of Off-Road Racing' event. Mariachi Real
de San Diego have also appeared in movies (with stars as diverse
as Chuck Norris and James Garner) and television commercials (most
recently for the Del Mar Racing Season). But what they do best is
play and sing the mariachi classics. Their best selling CD,
"Ultimate Mariachi" will also be for sale following
their performance.

Gil Sperry is a
teacher in the Chula Vista Elementary School District. He and his
wife visited Puerto Vallarta in 1975 and fell in love with
mariachi. Fast-forward to May of 2003. His son, Matthew, a
classically trained, professional musician who had recorded with
the likes of Anthony Braxton, David Byrne, and Tom Waits, had just
returned from a trip to Jalisco. He had recorded two CDs with
local huapangueros. While visiting his son's Oakland home, Sperry
listened with great enthusiasm to the recordings. He recalled his
initial exposure to mariachi and, with his son's encouragement,
vowed to write a book that would help, as his son put it, to
clarify this ".... bridge between cultures. " Three
weeks later, Matthew was killed when a truck ran a red light
leaving behind his beautiful wife, Stacia, and their two-year old
daughter, Lila. Three and a half years after that, "Mariachi
for Gringos," was finally published, a 'labor of love'
dedicated to his late son. Since then, it has given many people
(gringos and not-so-gringos alike) much pleasure.

"Mariachi for Gringos" will be
available for sale and Gil Sperry will hold a book signing and
discussion during the day’s events. For more information
or interview requests please call Gil Sperry at 619-887-9288 or
contact him via e-mail at: gilsperry@yahoo.com Chris at 760-564-3112, or Claire at 619-688-9845

CALIFORNIA
NEWSPAPERS IN THE DIGITAL AGE: MAKING OUR HISTORY AVAILABLE
A CONFERENCE IN CELEBRATION

Riverside Convention Center
Friday, October 19, 2007
9am-5pm

This conference will celebrate the creation of the California Digital
Newspaper Collection (http://cdnc.ucr.edu),
a free digital resource containing over a half century of California
newspapers, and discuss this milestone in the larger context of
preserving and accessing
California newspapers.

Attendance is free and includes continental breakfast, lunch, and an
afternoon cocktail reception. A limited number of grants are available
to teachers to defray the cost of a substitute. Travel grants are also
available for public librarians.

PRE-REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. FOR CONFERENCE AGENDA, ONLINE
REGISTRATION, AND INFORMATION ON APPLYING FOR A GRANT SEE:

Conference sessions will be devoted to the importance of the newspaper
as an historical source, the changing publishing environment, the
implications of the electronic age for newspaper preservation, and the
value of newspapers for professionals and the general public. This
conference will provide publishers, journalists and scholars as well
as
teachers, librarians, and genealogists, the forum in which to engage
in
a dialogue about the important issues yet unresolved regarding access
to
and preservation of California newspapers.

Currently, issues of the Daily Alta California and the San Francisco
Call are being added to the California Digital Newspaper Collection,
providing a run of San Francisco newspapers from 1850-1910.
Forthcoming
titles include the Los Angeles Herald, Amador Ledger, and Imperial
Valley Press. As the process of developing the Collection is ongoing,
conference participants will have the opportunity to contribute to its
creation. The history of California as preserved in its newspapers
belongs to all of us and we are eager to tailor the collection to the
needs of our users statewide.

The conference will take place at the Riverside Convention Center in
beautiful downtown Riverside. The historic Mission Inn, a 101-year-old
property with Moorish architecture, and a pedestrian mall lined with
boutiques, antique shops and cafes are just a short walk away. In
addition, the city boasts more than 20 museums and galleries, 10 golf
courses and a 40-acre botanical garden on the University of
California,
Riverside campus. Join us!

On the shores of what is now called Neah Bay the Spanish constructed
the first European settlement in the Continental United States West of
the Rockies and North of San Francisco. This historic settlement was
called Fort Núñez Gaona. Alferez Manuel Quimper landed in his sloop,
the Princesa Real, near this site
on July 24, 1790. He named the bay, Bahía de Núñez Gaona after
Admiral Manuel Núnez Gaona, a high ranking naval official. Quimper took
formal possession of Núñez Gaona Bay, already inhabited by the Makah
people, in the name of Spanish King Carlos IV of Castile and Leon on
August 1, 1790.

Although Núñez Gaona Bay was not well suited for mooring large
ships, it offered a ready base for the control of the entrance to the
San Juan de Fuca Straits which were considered at that time to be the
possible passage to the Atlantic. In that regard, it was seen as helping
Spain’s political, commercial and scientific interests in this region.
This bay played a significant role in international history and intrigue
during this period of the 18th century, as other European
powers challenged Spain’s claim to the Pacific Northwest in an attempt
to expand their own naval and commercial influence here and vie for
dominance.

On May 29, 1792, Lt. Salvador Fidalgo, following the orders of Count
Revillagigedo, the Viceroy of New Spain, guided the Spanish frigate Princesa
to this shore and officially established the Spanish settlement
Fort Núñez Gaona. Aboard were Spanish, Mexican, and Peruvian born
settlers, led by Spanish Commander Salvador Fidalgo, First Pilot Antonio
Serantes, Second Pilot Hipolito Tono, Chaplin Jose Alejandro Lopez de
Nava, Surgeon Juan de Dios Morelos, seventy seamen, and thirteen
soldiers. The colonists cleared the land along the stream behind where
this monument now stands and constructed their settlement across the
stream from the Makah villages.

On June 6, 1792 the Spanish schooners Sutil
and Mexicana, under the command of
captains Dionisio Alcala Galiano and Cayetano Valdez, were welcomed by
Chief Tetako, considered the most important native leader in this
region. The chief was invited on board one of the Spanish ships and
sailed across the Strait of Juan de Fuca with the Spanish, serving as
the ambassador for his native people. The drawings of the fort, bay,
crew and Chief Tetako were works done by artist Jose Cardero, a crew
member of the schooner Sutil.

The settlement of Fort Núñez Gaona consisted of an infirmary,
storehouses, dwellings, place of worship, bakery and a battery for
mounting canons. There were also corrals for pigs, sheep, cows, and
goats. For sustenance, the men planted vegetables, grains and fruits.
From this settlement the Spanish conducted the first international
trading with the native people of Washington, completed scientific
studies of local flora and fauna, recorded and preserved the language,
songs, religion and, customs of the Native people and mapped and named
key geographical points. Even as the settlers underwent these important
activities, they also brought their own culture. Steel implements,
ceramics, and other technology were introduced as well as agricultural
plants and livestock that are now the foundation of Washington’s
economy. The fort was occupied until September 29th 1792 when
Fidalgo received orders to abandon the bay and move to Nootka, a more
developed port facility on Vancouver Island. Spain officially
relinquished its claim to this region in 1819 under the Adams-Onis
Treaty.

This monument should serve to recognize a shared past and honor the
accomplishments of two important nations, one native and one foreign,
whose path of destiny intersected on this site resulting in the birth of
a new and indelible chapter in the history of this region.

Sent by Rafael Ojeda

Nunez Gaona Biography

In the year of 1767 he ascended to the office of Alferez of the Navy,
continuing with his navigations and missions until in the month of
January 1771 he rose to the office of Teniente of the Navy.

In the following year of 1772 he received his first command of the
ship San Carlos in which fulfilled again the dictates from the
King to capture north Africans when he took as fifty-eight prisoners
from the regency of Argelina and transported them to Cadiz.

He then returned immediately to sea to continue his mission. As he
ventured out he spied a ship from the North African region of Argelina
which he chased to an area beneath an armed castle in the area that had
canons as the arabs were hoping for protection. Manuel Nunez Gaona
succeeded in capturing the ship there but when he found it dismantled
and full of holes he realized it could not be saved so he decided to set
the ship on fire.

In the month of April in the year 1774 due to the many honors of
merit that he received , he was raised to the post of teniente de navio
and at the same time he was given the command of the ship San Jose which
was sent on a trip to and from Veracruz, Mexico

without incident; the trip went smoothly and there were no problems
with navigation.

Upon his return, he was given the command of the ship Garzota
in which he made trips throughout the Mediterranean as well as the
Atlantic ocean, always on a mission of protecting maritime traffic.

In the month of May in the year 1779 he ascended to the post of
Capitan and took command of the ship Santa Monica that was part
of the fleet of General don Luis de Cordova.

Upon the cessation of the hostilities between the United Kingdom and
Spain, his ship was assigned to the division of General don Antonio de
Ulloa, and he was sent on a mission to the Azores but due to a strong
storm he became separated from his fleet and for that reason was sighted
by the British ship Pearl which had 32 canons while the Spanish
ship only had 26 canons.

Therein ensued a tremendous battle which lasted for two and a half
hours but in that time the Santa Monica had suffered the loss of
thirty-five dead and fifty eight wounded leaving the ship badly depleted
of crew and for that reason without the possibility of getting away.
Since more than half of the crew was gone and the ship was useless there
was no other option but to surrender.

In the year of 1767 he ascended to the office of Alferez of the Navy,
continuing with his navigations and missions until in the month of
January 1771 he rose to the office of Teniente of the Navy.

In the following year of 1772 he received his first command of the
ship San Carlos in which fulfilled again the dictates from the
King to capture North Africans when he took as fifty-eight prisoners
from the regency of Argelina and transported them to Cadiz.

He then returned immediately to sea to continue his mission. As he
ventured out he spied a ship from the North African region of Argelina
which he chased to an area beneath an armed castle in the area that had
canons as the Arabs were hoping for protection. Manuel Nunez Gaona
succeeded in capturing the ship there but when he found it dismantled
and full of holes he realized it could not be saved so he decided to set
the ship on fire.

In the month of April in the year 1774 due to the many honors of
merit that he received, he was raised to the post of teniente de navio
and at the same time he was given the command of the ship San Jose which
was sent on a trip to and from Veracruz, Mexico

without incident; the trip went smoothly and there were no problems
with navigation.

Upon his return, he was given the command of the ship Garzota
in which he made trips throughout the Mediterranean as well as the
Atlantic Ocean, always on a mission of protecting maritime traffic.

In the month of May in the year 1779 he ascended to the post of
Capitan and took command of the ship Santa Monica that was part
of the fleet of General don Luis de Cordova.

Upon the cessation of the hostilities between the United Kingdom and
Spain, his ship was assigned to the division of General don Antonio de
Ulloa, and he was sent on a mission to the Azores but due to a strong
storm he became separated from his fleet and for that reason was sighted
by the British ship Pearl which had 32 canons while the Spanish
ship only had 26 canons.

Therein ensued a tremendous battle which lasted for two and a half
hours but in that time the Santa Monica had suffered the loss of
thirty-five dead and fifty eight wounded leaving the ship badly depleted
of crew and for that reason without the possibility of getting away.
Since more than half of the crew was gone and the ship was useless there
was no other option but to surrender.

The ship was taken to Plymouth from where it was later returned to
Cadiz.

As was the custom, Manuel Nuñez Gaona had to go before a war
tribunal in order to clarify the circumstances of his surrender. Once
the tribunal saw the conditions under which the surrender was made, they
declared all of the judgments in his favor with no loss to his
reputation.

In the month of May in 1782, he received a new command as the Second
Capitan on the ship Santísma Trinidad that was part of the fleet
assigned to General don Luis de

Córdova.

The fleet of General Don Luis de Córdova was assigned to protect the
blocking of the Rock of Gibraltar and for that reason was present at the
battle of Cape Espartel between the Spanish fleet and the British fleet
of Admiral Howe. The crew of the Santisima Trinidad could not
prevent Admiral Howe from arriving at Gibraltar with his men.

Consequently, the British were able to take control of the Rock of
Gibraltar.

Due to his merits, in the month of December of the same year 1782, he
rose to the office of Capitan of the Navy, passing immediately to the
command of the ship Santa Isabel that was part of the same fleet
of the General don Luis de Cordova and with him, he proceeded to block
the Rock and to fire upon that area until a peace treaty was signed
between Spain and England.

In the year 1784, he was named Mayor General of the Department of
Cadiz, but it was for a short time as his presence was required for
active duty in the navy and therefore he was named to the position of
Chief of the Naval Forces of Algeciras under which the forces in his
command remained in constant alert for the protection of Spanish areas
in North Africa.

He carried out multiple attacks against the forces of Argelina, not
allowing the Arab Berbers to take hostages at their own bases and using
the strategy of constant movement, bombing the various castles and forts
and other points of power along the entire

Barbarry Coast.

In the month of May in the year of 1787, he rose to the position of
Brigadier, being chosen and named immediately as the mayor General of
the Armada, a position that they bestowed upon him for the great wisdom
and skill he demonstrated. Despite the fact that he had just risen to
the position of Chief of the Fleet, in the month of January in the year
of 1793, he continued demonstrating in his work his accustomed expertise
and wisdom which was in itself a validation of his capacity to assume
such a great responsibility.

In the year 1802, he rose to the new level of Teniente General, and
therefore there was no other option but to abandon the position of Mayor
General de la Armada.

Panel Discussion was held Sept 13, 2007 at the
UT-Austin Texas Union TheaterBorder Bandits, Hidden History
A film on the Texas Rangers.Documentary by Kirby Warnock, Producer

In every community’s past, there is a hidden history.
Why should we claim our hidden history?

"Warnock's documentary blows the doors off of the myths of the
heroics of
the Texas Rangers of the early 1900s," said Rivas-Rodriguez.
"These days,
the Rangers include men and women of color. But those of us who grew up
in
Texas grew up knowing that there was this other horrible, unacknowledged
history of lynchings of Mexicans and Mexican Americans by the Rangers --
and
how that was part of the theft of thousands of acres of land from them.
Warnock goes about connecting the dots calmly, but forcefully."

Warnock chose the "Hidden History" title because the film, and
the ensuing
dialogue, has spurred interest in a chapter of Texas history that is not
in
the history books, but easily proven by existing records and documents.

Border Bandits is based on a story that filmmaker Kirby's grandfather,
Roland Warnock, told him nearly 30 years ago. In 1915 Roland was a
19-year-old cowboy working on the Guadalupe Ranch near present-day
Edinburg,
Texas. He told his grandson that a notorious "bandit" raid on
the nearby
McAllen Ranch was really an attempted revenge killing aimed at rancher
James
B.
McAllen for keeping a 14-year-old Mexican girl in his house. In
retaliation,
Texas Rangers killed two Mexican-Americans living nearby, even though
neither man was involved in the "raid."

"As a baby boomer that grew up with The Lone Ranger, I was always
fascinated
and disturbed by my grandfather' s story," recalls Kirby. He spent
nearly
five years tracking down the descendants of the dead men, poring over
Ranger
reports and interviewing historians to find out what actually happened.
The
result is Border Bandits, a film that is both compelling and disturbing
as
it tells of a turbulent time in Texas history, when 3,000-5,000
Mexican-Americans were killed in the lower Rio Grande Valley.

Using period photos and re-enactment footage, Border Bandits is a true
tale
of justice gone awry during a time when American citizens of Hispanic
descent were summarily killed for their lands. It has sparked intense
interest in Texas, because of the state's growing Hispanic population
and
its absence from Texas history books. The film caused Rep. Aaron Pena to
introduce a bill in the 79th Texas legislative session after viewing the
film, and even passed a House Resolution (HR 2140) honoring it.

"It tells all of our stories, even those parts we'd rather leave
out," wrote
Alejandro Perez for the San Antonio Current.

In Memoriam: Juan Bonilla Flores
A new day for Blacks in Ecuador
WWII meant opportunity for many women, oppression for others

In Memoriam: Juan Bonilla Floreswww.americanlynching.com

Born: June 25, 1905
Died: March 25, 2007

Many assume that only African-Americans were greatly victimized by
lynching as tragic American phenomenon. Juan Bonilla Flores, a kind,
gentle and wise man late of Odessa, but once of his cherished Porvenir,
Texas – would have proved the lie to such thinking.

He was only a boy a few months shy of thirteen when his entire childhood
as wrenched away during a single horror-filled night in January, 1918.
U.S. Cavalry soldiers came to his village in that terrible moment of
history, and local white ranchers, and Texas Rangers. All were complicit
or were perpetrators in the mass lynching that came to be known as The
Porvenir Massacre and claimed the lives of fifteen men and teenaged
boys, including Longino Flores, Juan Bonilla’s beloved father. The
poor villagers of Porvenir were tejanos -- Mexicans living in Texas but
trying to be Americans.

Throughout his long life, Mr. Flores was haunted by memories of his
father and the others murdered by so many gunshots that their mutilated
bodies were virtually unrecognizable. But until he reached his nineties,
most details of what had happened were barely uttered, and the snippets
he did reveal in his nightmares were considered dark fantasies by his
children and descendants.

Finally, it was time to tell the truth, no matter how painful.

I met him once he’d reached age 97, in 2002. By then, he’d
"come out" to his children and descendants as the last
survivor of Porvenir’s tragedy. I was touched by his sense of humor
and civility, but mostly by his courage. He agreed to be interviewed for
American Lynching: A bDocumentary Feature and to share his horrific
story with the world while
my film crew and I learned how the long ago events in Porvenir had in
fact impacted the entire Flores family in simple but incalculable ways.

I will miss this gentle human being greatly. Most of all, I lament the
bitter truth that we could not complete our production before he died
this year at age 101.

A new day for Blacks in Ecuador
The New Crisis, Nov/Dec 2002
by Lori S. Robinson

When 23 Africans aboard a wrecked Spanish slave ship liberated themselves and created a palenque, a free
Black community, in October 1553, they set a standard of resistance and empowerment that would in spire
their descendants hundreds of years later. Today,
Black Ecuadorians honor their ancestors by celebrating the National Day of Black People the first Sunday of
October. This year, festivities included sports competitions, music concerts and an Afrocentric
Catholic mass.

Those courageous Africans might be disappointed with their commemoration, however. There are few
celebrations and ceremonies. In fact, says might Brine disappointed not a national holiday and it their
comnot even well known. News about it is spread only
within Black communities." Declared in a resolution by Ecuador's National Congress in 1997 after intense
lobbying by Black organizations, the National Day of Black People is nevertheless considered a significant
triumph. Considering the political and social environment in which Black Ecuadorians live, it is nosurprise that this resolution is a very big deal.

Today in Ecuador, a South American nation of 12.1 million people with a land area about the size of
Colorado, employers advertise for job applicants with a "good appearance," a euphemism for White or European
characteristics. Landlords openly reject applications
from Blacks looking for housing in middle-class areas. In Ecuador, you can see Whites in blackface on
television and logos of major companies featuring caricatures of Blacks designed to look more like
monkeys than humans.

In rural Black areas, lack of government investment is evident. In the province of Esmeraldas, which has the
highest concentration of Afro-Ecuadorians, entire towns are without electricity, schools and other basic
services and infrastructure. Many communities that live off the land there are being forced out as
lumber, oil, mining and shrimp-farm companies (many of them U.S.-owned) exploit the natural habitat.

The percentage of Ecuadorians living below the poverty line jumped from 34 percent in 1995 to 56 percent by
the end of the decade. The poverty rate grew fastest over the last decade in the coastal region of the
country, where there is a higher concentration of
Blacks.

Many Blacks are fleeing to major cities, but even the capital city, Quito, and the largest city,
Guayaquil, offer them few modern amenities. "The urban [Black] community lives on the periphery of the city. There
are no basic services, insufficient electricity, housing of very poor material. And there are few
schools to attend," explains Ibsen Hemandez, president of Afroamerica XXI, a civic group in Guayaquil. "They
don't tell you that you can't study, but subtly they are saying that you can't."

"Marginalized, exploited, excluded from national development," is how Oscar Chala describes the daily
reality of Ecuador's African descendants. An anthropologist in Chota, the northern valley region
with a significant Black population descended from enslaved Africans, he says, "We are terribly
vulnerable. We are the greatest mass of poor people in
the country."

"The majority [of Blacks live] in misery. The majority is very poor. They are illiterate, unemployed, without
health care, education," says Josefina Orovio, a federal official.

Tenacious racism and overwhelming poverty paint a grim portrait of Black life in Ecuador. Add to that a
citizenry devoid of racial consciousness and it's easy to understand why Black oppression seems so
intractable. But a bustling movement of activists is stirring up change, spurred by the triumphs of the
bold political movement of Ecuador's indigenous people and inspired by Black activism throughout the
Americas.

"There's this fervor to organize," says Sheila S. Walker, who holds the Cosby Endowed Chair for the
Humanities at Spelman College. Walker has visited every South American country except Guyana, as well as
much of Central America and the Caribbean. As a guest of the U.S. Embassy in February, she made her first
sojourn to Ecuador, where she gave Black History Month lectures around the country. "As compared to every
place else I was, there were more [Black] organizations in Ecuador."

Blacks Don't Count: Known for eco-tourism, Ecuador boasts the world's highest active volcano (located in the Andes
Mountains), a tropical Pacific coast and part of the Amazon rainforest. Ecological diversity is a source of
national pride. Human diversity is another story.

In Ecuador, where African slavery lasted from 1534 to 1854, Spanish colonizers sought to forge a homogenous
population through blanqueamiento, a policy of "whitening" or making the population as visibly and
culturally European as possible through race-mixing. Today, most Ecuadorians are considered mestizos, a
Spanish-indigenous mix, although many identify themselves as White.

"Race-mixing, the center of national identity, involved indigenous people and Whites. Although
indigenous people have been suffering tremendously from racism throughout history, they nevertheless are
included in this ideological biology of national identity, while Blacks aren't," explains Jean Muteba
Rapier, an anthropology professor at Florida
International University in Miami.

A man's role in World War II was clear - if he was able-bodied, he went off to fight. The iconic image of women in World War II is Rosie the Riveter, a made-up character in a poster promoting the need for women to step into manufacturing jobs vacated by men. But there also were women in the armed forces and others who tended to the home fires. Like men, many of them never forgot "The War," as a few tell filmmaker Ken Burns in his new seven-part PBS series that began Sunday on PBS.

World War II saw an unprecedented number of women join the workforce - more than any other time in U.S. history. The experience of women, however, was not universal.

White women and some Asians had opportunities to build and fly planes. Japanese Americans had none - it was off to internment camps after the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor. And African Americans suffered, too. Their lives became worse in the Bay Area as the influx of black and white shipyard workers from the deep South brought Jim Crow attitudes to a part of the country that largely had been free of segregationist sentiment.

Some historians believe women's entry into industrial jobs hastened societal and economic changes already occurring in the American landscape and might have lit a fuse that contributed to the women's rights movement 20 years later.

Mills College history Professor Marianne Sheldon says that while previous wars also put women to work, the seeds of significant social change for American women were planted during World War II.

"Maybe in general, war dislocates but does not become an agent of lasting change. However, war and World War II specifically did encourage questioning, the full implications of which take time to become evident," she says. "In some ways, the domestic circumstances of the war fostered the roots of the civil rights movement and the women's rights movement that built on it. Many women who lived through World War II came to want different lives for their daughters."

One thing is certain: Women's roles in the workforce in World War II indelibly imprinted on the public consciousness that women were capable of all sorts of roles in society in addition to those of wife and mother - and of being independent in ways previously not socially acceptable - whether or not they wanted to make a career of them.

Across the Bay Area, as across the nation, women felt the effects of war personally and professionally in ways that would affect their lives for years to come. Six who lived through the tumultuous time talked about their divergent experiences during World War II.

Betty Reid Soskin, 84, is an African American who works as a ranger giving tours at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front Historical National Park in Richmond. At the time of the war, she was 20 years old and married to an African American man who was a seventh-generation Californian. She worked as a file clerk during the war at a segregated union hall for African American shipyard workers. The shipyards created by industrialist Henry Kaiser, she says, imported workers from the Deep South who had segregationist attitudes.

The war did not necessarily bring new employment opportunities to black women, who had been working outside the home as domestic workers since the time of slavery to make ends meet.
"The Rosie the Riveter story is a white women's story - a story of the emancipation of the middle-class white women working outside the home," Soskin says.

For her and her husband, she says, World War II was a period of humiliation because it brought segregation to a Bay Area that previously had not known it.

Though the union hall where she worked was only a couple of miles from the shipyards, "I never had a sense of being anyone other than pushing papers," she says. "I wasn't even always sure who the enemy was."

Soskin says that before the war, African Americans could live virtually anywhere in the Bay Area. There were so few African Americans between Sacramento and Monterey at that time that there was only "informal discrimination," she recalls. After the war, she and her husband hired an architect and built a house in Walnut Creek. They were the only African American family for miles around and only the second to move to Diablo Valley.

"We were subject to death threats," she says. "That would not have happened to us before the war. We really and truly had to learn a whole new way of living. And I began to learn the importance of racial identification."

Life was different for Betty Budde, 87, of Concord, who got her first chance to get out and see the world as a member of the military in World War II.

She became a member of the Women's Airforce Service Pilots, which ferried planes from one air base to another and freed men up for combat missions.

"It was a big deal when I left, and my mom thought I'd never come home," she says. "It was scary. I didn't know how to act in the outside world. But I had to do it. It was exciting, something new. And you felt good doing something besides typing."

Dolores Callero, 82, of Windsor was a teenager when war broke out and enlisted in the Marines when she turned 20, the minimum enlistment age at the time.

After boot camp on the East Coast, she worked in personnel at the Marine Corps headquarters on Harrison Street, which oversaw the Pacific theater. If it wasn't glamorous or exciting, it was better than her other options, as she learned when she was discharged in 1946. She had met and married a man in the service and had gone to work for Livingston Bros. on Grant Avenue, where she sold hats to wealthy society women for three months before getting fed up. When women were allowed to rejoin the Marines as reserves, she did.

"You might say I had a higher purpose," she says. "Outside the home, I felt I was contributing to the war effort."

Inga Ferris, now 83 and living in a Veterans Affairs hospital in Martinez, was working in a bakery as an 18-year-old when war broke out. She went to work for a plant that polished and finished radio crystals for the Army Signal Corps. Later, she joined the Marines and learned in boot-camp testing that she had an aptitude to become an aviation machinist. She was sent to El Toro, a Marine air base outside Los Angeles, to work on Corsair fighter planes.

"I've talked to women Marines of today who said we were the pioneers who led the way for them. They're doing everything - fighting the battles and dying. I don't know whether I wanted to start that or not," she says of her wartime experience. "I didn't consider myself a pioneer or patriotic. I just did it."

Tami Takahashi, 92, of San Francisco, who retired last year after closing the Takahashi Import company that she and her husband started after the war, was sent to an internment camp with her family after Pearl Harbor, but not before the U.S. government tried to press her into service as a translator.

She was at UC Berkeley studying environmental design when war broke out. Unfortunately, the only Japanese she could speak was rudimentary - she was born in the United States.

"It was a foreign language to me - I didn't know military nomenclature," she says. "The words I had learned in floral arranging and dancing were not in the vernacular. I wanted to help and live up to their expectations. Instead, I'd sit there and cry."

In the camps, she and other women forged friendships and developed skills they didn't know they had.

"The camps gave an opportunity to all the women to become self-sufficient and recognize the leadership ability of women and their divergent talents," she says.

When people were released from the camps, she says, many women used their leadership skills to take jobs they otherwise wouldn't have thought to do.

"Many became teachers," she says. "They wouldn't have done that prior to World War II - they'd have married a farmer or a dentist. Teaching was a field where they were accepted despite their racial background. And they enjoyed it."

Maggie Gee, 84, a retired physicist from Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory who grew up in Berkeley, says she was one of two Chinese American women to fly an airplane in the military as a Women's Airforce Service Pilot. Gee was a freshman when she left UC Berkeley to become a draftsman at Mare Island to help with the war effort. It wasn't exciting enough for her, so she became a WASP.

She and two other women in the drafting department saved their money, cashed in their war bonds and went to Minden, Nev., to take flying lessons. Gee was sent to an air base in Las Vegas, where she trained men coming back from war to renew their instrument ratings.

"I think it changed the dynamic - and gave women confidence that they could earn a living," she says of the war. "You didn't have to be dependent on the male. Being a housewife is an honorable job. But with women who were out in the world, they didn't feel subservient to the man anymore.

"The women I knew in the WASPs are strong women, though, and that does make a difference. A woman who would go out to learn to fly is a strong woman, a little different already. I've seen others, though, of my generation, who did some job during the war whether working in the post office, something they wouldn't have ordinarily done, and when the war was over, and they were supposed to give up their job, but they didn't want to."

Mexico's
1921 Census: A Unique Perspective
In response to a query to Somos Primos concerning indigenous research
in Mexico, Board member John Schmal responded:

Dear Alma: I just gave a lecture in Austin, Texas, about doing
indigenous research in Mexico and determining tribes of origin and it
can be very complex and unique for each individual, depending upon the
dynamics of each community (i.e., what were the indigenous tribes of
the area, did other Indians from other areas settle in the area, war,
disease, mestizaje, assimilation, etc.), but you can read these
articles which may help you understand some of these dynamics:
http://houstonculture.org/mexico/states.html
http://houstonculture.org/mexico/chihuahua.html
http://houstonculture.org/mexico/durango.html
http://houstonculture.org/hispanic/connection.html
http://houstonculture.org/hispanic/research.html

Also, check Peter Gerhard's "North Frontier of New Spain,"
which has information specific to given areas of Mexico. I can
probably check it on the weekend for you.

Jasper Hostler Jr., a leader of one of Northern California's
largest Indian tribes and a career Marine who served in three wars, has died at
his home on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation in Humboldt County. He was 90 when he died Sept. 5.

Mr. Hostler, raised on the reservation in Hoopa, went into the military at his grandmother's urging. She feared that Indians, stripped of their culture, were also losing their discipline.

"His grandmother wanted him to join the military to have a life of discipline and protect what we had left" as a tribe, said his great-niece, Allie Hostler. "She saw there was something better out there for us, better than poverty and drug addiction, and she felt the way out was through discipline."

Mr. Hostler, who enlisted in 1941, served in World War II and the Korean War, and did three tours of duty in Vietnam. He was the oldest of seven brothers - four of whom also served in the military.

Upon his return to Hoopa in the 1970s, he shared stories of his time in the service. He told his grand-niece he was in boot camp when Pearl Harbor was attacked. "We were not going to let Japan take our country or let Hitler take over," he said.

He saw service in the campaigns to take the Marshall Islands and, later, Okinawa. He talked, too, of the soldiers' hardships during the Korean War, of the unbearable cold and the months without fresh food. He went to Vietnam for the first of his tours in 1965.

Back in Hoopa, he became active in tribal politics and development. He served as a Hoopa Tribal Council member and member of the tribe's medical board. In the 1980s, he was a leader in the tribe's effort to control the timber-rich 147,000-acre reservation. Other tribes, notably the
Yuroks, also wanted control. Eventually, the land was split
into two parts, allowing the tribes to oversee their own ancestral homelands.

He also spent his time raising horses and cattle and was instrumental in getting the Hoopa fire department built. Members of the local fire department attended his funeral, held Wednesday, as did a Marine detachment from Redding, which performed a color guard ceremony.

Married to his second wife - the "love of his life" - for 35 years, Mr. Hostler never had children of his own, but made it a point to embrace his many nieces and nephews.

"We became his children," said nephew Clarence Hostler. "I got to know him when he retired from the Marines. I had resisted the military, so I was a bit unsure. His voice and bearing were very much like a master sergeant. But over time, I realized that he was really about family values and caring - and had some of that U.S. Marine discipline."

Hostler recalled his uncle's fastidiousness. "Even cutting firewood, it had to be 18 inches," Hostler said with a laugh. "If there were two or three pieces out of length, we had to correct it. If I went to him and my hair was even touching my collar, he would ask about it. I'd say, 'I just got it cut.' He'd hand me $10 and say, 'Have them finish the job.' "

It is with great sadness that I read of the death of another great leader of the Hoopa nation. I had the privilege of meeting Jasper many times both socially in family gatherings, at tribal dances as well as meetings concerning tribal issues during my fifteen years on the
Hoopa reservation.

The legacy he has left with his spirit for you to now embody in your lifetime continues the urging of his grandmother to keep the culture of the Hoopa people alive...

I had seen at least five generations of hope in one family in Hoopa during my time there... may Creator continue to bless you all as you celebrate the life of another elder who has passed among us...

great-great-grandmother.
Some of the baskets are on display in museums."

Bates, 56, a resident of the Tuolumne Rancheria, will share her vast
knowledge of Me-Wuk history and basketry at the Tuolumne County
Library in Sonora, California at 7 p.m. on Sept. 28.

The word Me-Wuk — also spelled Miwuk, Mi-Wok, or Miwok — means
"people," in their native language and there are four
subgroups — Valley and Sierra Me-Wuk, Coast Me-Wuk, Lake Me-Wuk and
Bay Me-Wuk. Tuolumne Me-Wuk are part of the first subgroup and
were generally a hunting and gathering people who built teepee-like
homes called umachas, which were made from pine poles, grapevines, and
cedar bark.

Bates is one of the founding members of the California Indian
Basket-weavers Association and began weaving traditional Me-Wuk Indian
baskets at age 17.

She learned about basketry from her grandmother and tribal elders, but
for the most part was self-taught. "When it comes to making
a basket, it helps to look at old baskets," she said. "I
like to use willow, big leaf maple, bracken fern, red bud and deer
grass."

Bates has taught and mentored many on the intricacies of starting and
stitching classic Me-Wuk patterns and styles of baskets. Traditional
Me-Wuk baskets are both twined and coiled and were used for a variety
of things ranging from sifting acorn meal, storing seeds and dry goods
like acorns. Additionally, coiled Me-Wuk basketry was used for boiling
— aided by the use of heated stones — serving, and for parching
meal or seeds by shaking them with intermixed embers.

Bates, who prefers to weave in the natural sun light of her porch,
said the intricate and tightly woven patterns require strong hands,
focus and a proper frame of mind.
"You have to have a lot of patience and be in a good mood to
weave," Bates said. "I have to be in a good place."

Time to weave has been hard to come by lately for Bates, who in
February took on the position of personnel development manager at the
Black Oak Casino in Tuolumne.

"I love it because I get to help tribal members pursue their
goals," Bates said. "I like helping people and watching them
grow."

In addition to her duties at the casino, Bates has served as a panel
member of the Alliance for California Traditional Arts Living Cultures
Grants Program, on and off, over the past 15 years, overseeing grant
proposals for Native Americans.

Bates considers speaking at the opening Smithsonian Institution's
National Museum of the American Indian, in Washington, D.C., as one of
the pinnacles of her life. She holds her Me-Wuk heritage close to her
heart and continues to help other native people connect with these
traditions through classes, demonstrations and talks.

"At one time I was one of few, if not the only, Me-Wuk basket
weaver," Bates said. "Now there are 30 to 50 weavers and
I've had the privilege of watching that number grow."

I spend my days tromping about country other people call wild. At night
by lantern light, I read the accounts of those who have tromped before
me.
On my short list of heroes who have learned to know and live in the
wilds, the chairman of the board is a humble Indian they called Ishi.

I read Theodora Kroeber's classic "Ishi in Two Worlds" when I was
in
high school. Ishi was the last of his tribe. His survival tale slipped
under my teenage skin and planted a lifelong itch.

When he was discovered at a butcher's corral near Oroville (Butte
County), Ishi was emaciated and near death. He had burned off his hair
in mourning. The people assumed he was there seeking (read, stealing)
food and put him in jail, supposedly for his own protection.

Anthropologist Alfred Kroeber heard about the "Wildman of
Oroville" and
rescued him from his cell. As Ishi showed over the next five years while
he lived at the anthropology department of UCSF, he was a man of
remarkable skill in making traditional tools and using them to provide
food.

Recently I had a chance to scratch that old itch by visiting Ishi's
still rugged world in the deeply incised volcanic lands south of Lassen
National Park.

Blue and live oaks, rich with acorns, carpet the savanna grasslands
where Ishi's mountains begin their climb out of the Central Valley north
of present-day Chico. It was an enervating 110 degrees among the oaks,
but clear and cool water ran in ponderosa pine-shaded Antelope, Mill and
Deer creeks. As we slogged from swelter to shade and back into swelter,
we saw hunter-wary deer and jackrabbits disappear into the brush.

Ishi's native country was rich in both food and shelter. There Ishi and
his small band of survivors of an 1865 massacre had hidden from white
"Indian hunters" for more than 40 years. When attacked, they ran
in all
directions to assure that some would survive. But over the years the
hunters persisted, and the numbers in Ishi's band dwindled until there
was only one surviving Yahi.

On a slope looking out over this vast area, I could imagine the Indian
hunters approach and the Yahi know they were coming long before there
was any real threat. It's hard to sneak about in nature. There are
certain creatures in every natural community that serve as security.
Birds sing more than sweet tunes of love. Their alarm calls tell the
world - the world that knows to listen - that something is amiss.

But just as we celebrate Ishi's skills, we also should acknowledge that
his adversaries weren't clueless. The Indian killers' skills may not
have matched those of Ishi's people, but they did know their way around
a tree and how to stalk a deer.

The quest to exterminate California's Indians tested both parties. That
Ishi and his people survived so long speaks volumes about their
tenacity.

A civilization-fattened Ishi led anthropologists into these lands to
demonstrate how his people had managed to survive for all those years.
The experience of the scientists on that trip changed how California's
native peoples were seen.

Because Ishi never spoke his own name, we don't know that part of his
identity. The name Ishi, the Yahi word for man, was given to him by one
of the anthropologists when a reporter asked his name. He endeared
himself to all who knew him during the final five years of his life, but
we can't know how he saw the alien world of "civilized" San
Francisco.

As a wildland tramper, though with nowhere near the skills possessed by Ishi, I see his knowledge of his world differently from most people. He
was too capable on his native land to have starved by accident. His home
was too rich.

Sadly, the Yahi who came to be known as Ishi went to Oroville to die.
White men had killed all his relatives. He had no reason to expect a
different fate. He was a deeply lonely man in mourning who knew there
were no others like him anywhere.

As I sat on the south fork of Antelope Creek and watched the stream
tumble through the dappled sunlight, the peace I felt was that of a
white man. The territory had been taken.

Everyone who knew the last Yahi said he was both intelligent and deeply
caring. Living so profoundly alone for the last two years of his native
life, meeting no one who could speak his name, made the last Yahi want
to rejoin his people in another world.

Fortunately for us and graciously tolerated by him, Ishi the man's
reunification with his people was delayed by five years.

The visit scratched my itch, but it ain't gone. Many generations, Indian
and European American, have been inspired by the story of the last Yahi.
Having tramped in his tracks, let me tell you, that Ishi was one tough
dude, and a heck of a fine human.

Freelance writer "Digger" Jerry George sends his journal
"letters" home
to the Bay Area from Yellowstone National Park - or wherever he happens
to be observing nature. E-mail him at home@sfchronicle.com

Voces de Haketia and the American Sephardi Federation present
Tu Boca en Los Cielos: El Judeo-Espanol de los nuestros
Center for Jewish History | 15 West 16th Street | New York City

Artist Gladys Benaim Bunan will discuss her new book, presenting the culture
and Judeo-Spanish (Haketia) language of the Sephardim of Morocco. Ms.
Bunan, born and raised in Tangiers, Morocco, combines her father's words with
her own lush, watercolor illustrations, creating a rich, multi-layered graphic
synthesis, bringing many facets of Sephardic culture to life. Her original
watercolors will be on view. Following Ms. Bunan, international performer
and comedian, Solly Levy, will bring his wit and talent to our stage. Born
in Tangiers, he performs in Spanish, Haketia, English, Hebrew and French.
Well-loved throughout the Sephardic Diaspora, Levy captivates the hearts and
souls of his audience in live performance and on his weekly Radio Sefarad
program.

A reception will follow. For more information and to purchase tickets call the Center Box Office
at 917.606.8200 Tickets: $15 Sent by info@americansephardifederation.org

Professor Seyour B. Liebman in his book, The Jews in New Spain,
writes that in Mexico, adherents to the Law of Moses carried on their
traditions surreptitiously for almost three centuries. It is not
coincidental that the expulsion of the Jews in Spain, and the sailing of
Columbus to the New World both took place in 1492. Thousands of
Sephardics left Spain, merchants, scholars, bakers, soldiers.
Entire families sailed to a new life.

In the process of pursuing personal family histories, many Southwest
Hispanics have stumbled on their Sephardic lines. Some individuals
have returned to their Jewish heritage, joined Jewish congregations, and
even changed their names.

For fear of persecution, the Catholic faith was practiced openly, but
Jewish traditions were still practiced quietly in the home. Some
Sephardic families eventually lost their Jewish faith, and became
committed Catholics. Descendants of those early Jewish families in
Mexico continued colonizing the Southwest, enriching their communities
with their skills. Gloria Golden's book Remnants of
Crypto-Jews Among Hispanic Americans is a collection of
interviews, primarily in New Mexico, individuals sharing their moment of
awareness that although practicing Catholics, they had Jewish blood.

The Discovery Heritage Center will be a tool to acknowledge and promote
the Sephardic presence and Jewish contributions to Early California, and
those also of other minority groups whose story is not well known.
California's story is one of continuing assimilation and eventual
inclusion of all groups, an important message to discover.

One of the things I do since I retired from Philadelphia's Temple
University in 1991 is lecture on cruise ships. My signature talk is the
50-century-old history of piracy, whose practitioners I call the
Seafaring Gangsters of the World.

A few weeks before my first gig, I sent a draft of the talk to my
history-buff sister, Phyllis. She liked it, but she was very unhappy
that I had not mentioned Jean Lafitte.

She said I simply had to talk about Lafitte because he was unique. He
was a Sephardi Jew, as was his first wife, who was born in the Danish
Virgin Islands. In his prime, Lafitte ran not just one pirate sloop but
a whole fleet of them simultaneously. He even bought a blacksmith shop
in New Orleans, which he used as a front for fencing pirate loot. And he
was one of the few buccaneers who didn't die in battle, in prison or on
the gallows.

Though I didn't lecture about Lafitte at first, a circumstance of
serendipity has made me do so ever since. I was flying to Norfolk,
Virginia. The man in the seat next to me wore a skullcap, and he began
chatting with me in Gallic-accented English. Though born in France, the
friendly passenger now lives in Switzerland.

We quickly established that we were both Jewish and that both of us
had taught in Israel. Then we had the following conversation:

"What are you doing on this plane?" I asked.

"I'm a mathematician. I work for an American company and I'm
flying to Norfolk today because it has the US Navy's largest naval base
and my company is trying to get a Navy contract. Now, what are you doing
on this plane?"

"My wife and I are picking up a cruise ship in Norfolk."

"Taking a vacation?"

"Not entirely. I'll be giving lectures on the ship, as many in
fact as there are full days at sea."

"What do you lecture about?"

"Cruise lines frown on controversial topics. I have talked about
Israel once or twice. But I usually talk about Latin America, which is
my second specialty, or the Panama Canal, or Mexico's Isthmus of
Tehuantepec, or Prince Henry the Navigator, or Portuguese explorations
after Prince Henry, or Alfred Thayer Mahan's belief in the supremacy of
sea power, or the political economy of the 21st century, or the voyages
of Captain Cook to the South Pacific. But I always begin a cruise with a
lecture on pirates. The kids love it, and the old folks like it,
too."

"Are you are going talk about Jean Lafitte?"

"No," and I repeated what my sister had told me.

He pulled out his wallet and handed me a business card. It had
"Melvyn J. Lafitte" written on it. Then he said, "I could
tell you that as we were chatting I printed this card on a nano-sized
printing press hidden in my pocket. And of course, you wouldn't believe
me. But the truth is that I am a direct descendant of Jean Lafitte. Your
sister, Phyllis, is absolutely right.

"Our family, originally named Lefitto, lived in the Iberian
Peninsula for centuries. When Ferdinand and Isabella reconquered Spain
and expelled the Muslims and the Jews in 1492, most of the Jews fled to
North Africa. Others went to the Balkans or to Greece and Turkey. But
some Sephardi Jews, my ancestors among them, crossed the Pyrenees and
settled in France, where Jean was born in about 1780. He moved to French
Santo Domingo during the Napoleonic period. However, a slave rebellion
forced him to flee to New Orleans. Eventually, he became a pirate, but
he always called himself a privateer because that label has a more legal
ring to it.

"In 1814, the British sought his aid in their pending attack on
New Orleans," he continued. "However, he passed their plans to
the Americans and helped General Andrew Jackson beat them in 1815. A
grateful Jackson, not yet president, saw to it that Lafitte and his
family became American citizens. And by the way, did you know that there
is a town of Jean Lafitte, as well as a Jean Lafitte National Historical
Park in Southwestern Louisiana?"

I was flabbergasted, not so much by the saga of Jean Lafitte as
retold by a proud descendant, but by the fact that the two of us had met
so coincidentally in the skies over Georgia.

Melvyn Lafitte lives in Geneva and I live in Portland, Oregon. These
cities are 5,377 miles apart. Unlike him, I am mathematically
challenged, so I don't know what the statistical probability is that a
descendant of the Franco-Jewish-American pirate Jean Lafitte would board
an airplane and sit next to me, as I was agonizing over whether to
mention his famous ancestor in a forthcoming talk. Do you?

Spanish
Texas did not welcome easily identifiable
Jews, but they came in any case. Jao
de la Porta was with Jean
Laffite at Galveston,
Texas in 1816,
and Maurice Henry was in Velasco in the late 1820s. Jews fought in the
armies of the Texas
Revolution of 1836,
some with Fannin at Goliad, others at San Jacinto. Dr.
Albert Levy became a surgeon to revolutionary
Texan forces in 1835,
participated in the capture of Béxar, and joined the Texas Navy the
next year. [4]
The first families were conversos
and Sephardic
Jews. Later settlers such as the Simon
family came in the 1860s and contributed to
the construction of synagogues and monuments such as the Simon
Theatre. B. Levinson, a Jewish Texan civic
leader, arrived in 1861.
[5]
Today the vast majority of Jewish Texans today are descendants of Ashkenazi
Jews, those from central and eastern Europe
whose families arrived in Texas after the Civil War or later. [6]

The Cesar E. Chavez Statue Unveiling Ceremony
Main Mall, October 9, 2007 at 11 A.M.A full week of activities are planned around the statue
unveiling.

The Project:

The idea to erect a statue of a Latina(o) at the University of Texas at Austin
Campus was one that students had for sometime. With this purpose in mind, some
of our Latina(o) students formed a group called "We are Texas Too"
in the Fall semester of 2000. "We are Texas Too" in conjunction with
the Latino Leadership Council conducted a student referendum in the fall of
2002 semester. Cesar Chavez was the leader that students selected through the
referendum to be honored with a bronze statue at our university. Cesar Chavez
was a civil rights and labor leader whose work as a spiritual figure reflected
his commitment to social change. He is recognized as one of the most heroic
figures of our time.

During the Spring 2003 semester, "We are Texas Too" worked with
Student Government and the Orange Jackets to have two statues erected. The
Orange Jackets is one of the oldest student organizations on this campus and
they saw the need to honor a female with a statue at UT Austin. They selected
Barbara Jordan as the person that they wanted to honor. Because of the hard
work of these three groups and the support of the student body, a referendum
was passed to collect a fee increase for a total of $2.00 per student, per
long semester and summer session, into a statue fund (this involves a $1.00
allocation per statue). The effort of students made the Cesar Chavez and
Barbara Jordan statues a reality!

October 12 : 3rd Annual Tejano SymposiumHistoric Gathering of Tejano Historians to be held at UTSA

(San Antonio, Texas) Sept. 27, 2007 - Texas Tejano.com, a San
Antonio-based Tejano History research and publishing company has
partnered with the University of Texas-San Antonio and The Boeing
Company to produce a one-of-a-kind Tejano Symposium on October 12, 2007
at UTSA's Downtown Campus.

This scholarly and education event will be held from 9:00am-3:30pm in
the Buena Vista Auditorium and will feature seven of the most
distinguished Texas and Tejano historians in the field today.

"This is an extremely important accomplishment for Texas
Tejano.com and our partners," says Texas Tejano.com President and
Founder Rudi R. Rodriguez. "From the beginning, we have strived
to make everything we produce be of the highest scholarship. With this
first-ever Tejano Symposium in San Antonio, we feel that we have an
event that will significantly contribute to the scholarly library of
Tejano History."

Seven of the most respected historians and authors of Texas and Tejano
History will present information at the Symposium entitled: Texas
Tejano Legacy and Heritage: 1821-1845.

"This year's Symposium promises to be the best ever," says
Dr. Jude Valdez, UTSA Vice President for Community Services. "UTSA
is proud to host this important event."

"The story of those long neglected Tejano leaders who helped
modern Texas come into existence is an opportunity to unite all Texans
in the search for the ties that bind us as a society," says Dr.
Jesus Francisco de la Teja, State Historian of Texas and Chairman of
the Dept. of History for Texas State University-San Marcos.

The event is free and open to the public; a $20 admission fee will be
charged to attend a special luncheon that features a special
presentation by UTSA Professor of History Dr. Felix Almaraz.
Registration is available online at www.texastejano.com.

"We at Boeing are very proud to be sponsors of this unique,
cultural and historical event," says Mr. Tony Gonzalez, Jr.,
Senior Liaison Engineering Manager of Boeing. "It has always been
said that you can never know where you are going until you know where
you have come from. This event will help let all Hispanics in Texas
know about their Tejano legacies."

Seating is limited for the Symposium and the luncheon. For more
information, please visit www.TexasTejano.com
or contact them at (210) 673-3584.

Saturday, October 20
Connally Room, Etter-Harbin Alumni Center (UTX)
9:00-10:45 Panel "Asian Mexicans"
11:00-12:45 Panel "Inscribing a Latin American Orient"
Support for the Asia in Latin America Conference is Provided By:
The Center for Asian American Studies
The Teresa Lozano Long Institute of Latin American Studies
College of Liberal Arts
Barron Ulmer Kidd Centennial Lectureship
Division of Diversity and Community Engagement
South Asia Institute
History Department
Conference is free of charge and open to all audiences.
For more information please contact The Center for Asian American Studies
(512) 232-6427 :: Email: aas@austin.utexas.edu :: www.utexas.edu/cola/centers/aas/
Sent by : lvg@mail.utexas.edu, johannah@mail.utexas.edu

Image: Church
of Nuestra Señora del Refugio as seen from the plaza
By Everardo Castro Medellín

An exhibit and reception was held on September 27, 2007 at the Nettie
Lee Benson Latin American Collection, The University of Texas
Libraries. Curator: Mary Carolyn George

Revilla, founded as a Spanish community in 1750,
was renamed for the insurgent Vicente Guerrero after Mexican
independence in 1821. In 1953, the town site, known today as Guerrero
Viejo, was flooded by the completion of the International Falcon
Reservoir on the Rio Grande. Due to the receding waters of Falcon Lake
in recent years, the buildings and the central plaza of Guerrero Viejo
have become a tourist mecca. Several important buildings have been
stabilized by Mexican preservation programs.

Attendees at the 28th Annual Texas Conference on Hispanic
Genealogy and History received a free CD that proves that they are truly
primos.

Thanks to the generosity of the Tejano Genealogy Society of
Austin, 200 CDs were given out. The CD entitled "The Descendants of
Diego Treviño and Beatriz Quintanilla" by Crispin Rendon is an
11-generation body of work. Don Diego and Doña Beatriz, an early
Northern Mexican family, are the progenitors of the majority of Texas
Hispanics.

This indexed and hyper-linked work contains over 47,000 individuals,
over 16,000 families covering over 1,300 surnames. This has never been
done before and would seem impossible, collecting this much work and
being able to publish it too.

It started with SHHAR members networking. Crispin solicited records from
fellow members and merged them with his own records. The benefits were
immediate and dramatic. Researchers can only do so much because each
only has a limited amount of resources especially time. Working alone
you can only do so much. Working as a team is the way to go.

Many participants now have their ancestry back to European royalty. What
started at SHHAR with the help of the Internet expanded to members of
Hispanic genealogy groups across the country and to people in other
counties too! Not everyone is convinced that sharing his or her research
is a good idea. After all that work doing research why share it? Many
want help but are not interested in helping others. It is sad when
researchers take all that work to the grave. Others have found their
brick walls crumble by being team members.

Their work added over 11,000 records to the endeavor last year along.
Creating this CD was a gamble. Will the records still come in or will
researchers help themselves and not give back? Crispin is betting on the
former. If he is right, we may be seeing an updated CD next year at the
29th Annual Texas Conference hosted by the East Texas
Hispanic Genealogy Society in Nacogdoches.

This one couple with four children in the 1500’s
probably have 1 million descendants today so there is still plenty of
work to do. If you want to contribute, Crispin Rendon’s email address
is crisrendon@earthlink.net

Dr. Jesus (Frank) de la Teja,
is the official
historian for the state of Texas. He was formerly with the Office of
Land Records. Currently he is a history
professor at Texas State Univ at San Marcos. This was taken at the awards
banquet at the Bob Bullock Museum. Frank de la Teja was the
keynote speaker.

John Schmal, author and SHHAR Board member was one of the keynote
speakers at the conference.

John
Schmal, Adan Benavides, librarian at the Nettie Benson
Library author of
the Index to the Bexar Archives., which has more information than just
Bexar County. The banquet was an awards banquet recognizing
contributions to Tejano history. That's is why
Adan is dressed the way he is--a Tejano. My "costume" was a
comfortable white dress with a red shawl.

Dan Arellano with hat and Gloria Candelaria Marsh at the Tejano Genealogy
Society of Austin Gala Hispanic History and Genealogy Conference in Austin
Sept 15 in period attire at the Bob Bullock Museum.

"On Saturday night, the conference enjoyed a gala banquet at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum where many of the participants dressed in period clothing to celebrate Tejano heritage. State Representative Juan M. Escobar, District 43, presented an official state resolution recognizing the twenty-eight years of contributions to Tejano heritage by the Hispanic genealogy societies of Texas. The banquet was an awards ceremony, presenting a $500 Tejano Book Prize to Dr. Jerry Don Thompson of Texas A&M International University in Laredo for his book
"Cortina: Defending the Mexican Name in Texas" published by Texas A&M University Press. One of the highlights of the evening was in the official greeting by bank President Renato Ramirez as representative for IBC BANK, the major sponsor of the event. Ramirez launched into a dramatic recital of the traditional poem "A Mi Nieto" by famous Mexican poet Delfín Sánchez
Juárez. Reciting the lengthy poem by heart, Ramirez drew cheers and an extended standing ovation."

Information for the Texas conference supplied by
the
Honorable Manuel Juan Escobar, Texas House of Representatives,
Sent by andrest@austincc.edu
Viola Sadler, and Cris Rendon

Tejano Battle of
Medina

This is the 2007 "Tejano Battle of Medina," in Pleasanton , Texas.
The
group is the Mountain Warriors from San Antonio with Author Dan Arellano.
The finale was taps and a rifle salute to commemorate the Tejanos that lost
their lives fighting for freedom and independence 194 years ago.
Sent by Dan Arellano darellano@austin.rr.com

SouthCentralTexas.Net is an online community designed to promote Associations, Organizations, and Small Businesses

Hispanic Heritage Month Kicks Off At KC Library With "La
Guerra (The War)"

(Kansas City, Missouri) – On Tuesday, September 18, at 6:30 p.m.
at the Central Library, 14 West 10th Street, The Kansas City Public
Library, in association with KCUR, will bring the contributions of
Latino World War II veterans to light in the panel discussion, La
Guerra (The War). A reception will precede the discussion at 6 p.m.

La Guerra will be moderated by KCUR’s Sylvia Maria Gross, host of
KC Currents. Her panelists include World War II veterans Roque Riojas
and Bob Cotero. Riojas served from 1942-45 as a Private First Class.
In his division, the 34th Infantry of the National Guard, Riojas’
outfit spent 600 days in combat in North Africa and Italy, more than
any other American unit in the war. Cotero served from 1944-48 as an
Electrician Mate Third Class in the United States Navy.

La Guerra highlights a month filled with Hispanic Heritage events.
On Saturday, September 22, at 11 a.m. the Latino Writers Collective
will conduct a bi-state writing workshop at I.H. Ruiz Branch, 2017
West Pennway, and the Argentine Branch of the Kansas City, Kansas
Public Library. During the three-hour event, teens will be introduced
to the fundamentals of creative writing at Ruiz Branch while adults
focus on the art at the Argentine Branch.

The festivities conclude on Sunday, September 30, at 2 p.m. with a
performance by El Ballet Folklorico Atotonilco at the Central Library.
Members of the company will lecture on the history and evolution of
Mexican folk dance, and its music. The event will also highlight the
influences of Mexico's indigenous populations as well as the mark left
by European countries. During the lecture, the company will perform
dances from several Mexican states, demonstrating intricate footwork
and costumes. On Thursday,
October 4, at 6 p.m. at Ruiz Branch, local historian Rudy Padilla will
show Mendez v. Westminster, a 30 minute documentary examining the case
that desegregated schools in Orange County, California in 1947.

Admission to all of the events is free, but reservations are
recommended.
To register, call 816.701.3407 or log on to kclibrary.org.

September 11, 2007 SAINT PAUL, MN – Since beginning in 1997, the
Chicano & Latino Writers Festival has a tradition of working with
local and national talent to present the only Twin Cities literary
festival focusing on Chicano and Latino writers. Help us celebrate 10
great years in 2007, with returning favorites and new writers to
experience!

The Festival kicks off on Tuesday, October 30, with a special reception
and 10th anniversary celebration, featuring a reading from Michele
Serros, author of the newly released ¡Scandalosa! Named by Newsweek as
"one of the top young women to watch for in the new century," Serros is
the author of Honey Blonde Chica, a young adult novel set in Southern California, and its sequel, ¡Scandalosa! In addition to being an
award-winning poet, Serros has been a featured contributor for the Los
Angeles Times' children's fiction section and a commentator for National
Public Radio. Serros is also the author of Chicana Falsa and How to Be
a Chicana Role Model, which became a Los Angeles Times bestseller. The
celebration and reading takes place at the Paul & Sheila Wellstone
Center, 179 E. Robie Street, Saint Paul, at 7 p.m.

On Thursday, November 1 at 7:30 p.m., acclaimed poet, novelist and essayist Ana Castillo reads from her new novel, The Guardians. Set in
a small New Mexican border town, The Guardians is brimming with unforgettable characters and keen insight-serving as a testament to
enduring faith, family bonds and cultural pride. Ana Castillo is the
award- inning author of several books, including Peel My Love Like an Onion, So Far from God, Watercolor Women/Opaque Men, and The
Mixquiahuala Letters. The reading takes place at the Paul & Sheila
Wellstone Center, 179 E. Robie Street, Saint Paul.

The Festival continues on Wednesday, November 7, when Manuel Muñoz reads
from his new story collection, The Faith Healer of Olive Avenue, a dazzling array of work set in a Mexican-American neighborhood in central
California. In a place where misunderstandings and secrets shape people's lives, the characters cross paths in unexpected ways and reveal
a community that is both embracing and unforgiving. Muñoz is the author
of a previous story collection, Zigzagger. His work has appeared in a number of publications, including Glimmer Train, Boston Review, and
Epoch. He reads at 7 p.m., at the Riverview Branch Library, 1 E. George
Street, Saint Paul.

On Wednesday, November 14, 7 p.m., Alex Espinoza and Liliana Valenzuela
present a bilingual reading of Espinoza's debut novel, Still Water Saints-or, Los santos de Agua Mansa, California-at the Riverview Branch
Library, 1 E. George St., Saint Paul. Still Water Saints is called "fresh, beautiful, and evocative," as Espinoza creates a fictional
southern California town where the dramatic stories and woes of the townspeople weave together with those of Perla Portillo, on whose
healing power the town depends. Still Water Saints was named a Barnes and Noble "Discover Great New Writer" selection for spring, 2007. His
essays have appeared in the New York Times Magazine and Salon, and he teaches in the English department at Fresno State. Liliana Valenzuela
is the award-winning translator of works by Sandra Cisneros, Julia Alvarez, Nina Marie Martinez, and was recently elected a Director of the
American Translators Association. Her work has appeared in Indiana Review, Edinburgh Review, BorderSenses, among other publications.

The final event of the Festival is Our Voice, an annual program of original work by students at the Guadalupe Alternative Program (GAP) on
Thursday, November 15 at 7 p.m. Young writers share their work on intergenerational relationships, clashes of culture, and the struggle of
how to create art at the Riverview Branch Library, 1 E. George Street,
Saint Paul.

Chicano & Latino Writers Festival programs are free and open to the
public. The Festival is coordinated by The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library, with the assistance of many community partners,
especially GAP, Micawber's Books, and Neighborhood House. Programs are
made possible, in part, by funds provided by the Metropolitan Regional
Arts Council through an appropriation by the Minnesota Legislature, and
the Saint Paul's Cultural STAR program. For more information, please call The Friends at 651/222-3242 or go online at
www.thefriends.org.

So this is like my 50th time
in DC and for the first time in many years, I have a totally free
morning with a meeting scheduled at 3:30 pm, so what to do??

I arrived quite late last night from El Paso. One of my buddies from Junior College was here
in DC with this girlfriend,
celebrating his 57th birthday. I was invited to have
dinner
with them at a Spanish bistro. I arrived close to desert time, but they
had waited for me. We reminisced and shared. It was a great evening, but
I was so tired.

I slept late that night, and after having breakfast I went
to the White House Visitor Center just to see what was new.

I learned about the First Families’ pets which have included horses,
bird, roosters and even a guest alligator, not only dogs and cats,
interesting. It took me about two hours to go through the exhibit so
I walked to the National Archives where I heard there was another
Presidential exhibit on the President’s school days and interestingly
enough there was a report card of George W with straight A’s. A letter
in French written by Kennedy and I did not know that Nixon played the
Violin.

Prior to this First Families' Pets exhibit, I went to see a movie. Compliments of Hispanic
month activities, it was about the incident at "Lemon Grove"
California. You
historians know about it, but I was clueless about its content. I was
floored by the dialogue which is no different today from the segregation
arguments
given in the 1930’s. Sometimes I wonder if discrimination is over or
not?

I sat there musing and a gentlemen asked me, what do you think
about the information in the display? I admitted my ignorance on the subject, and we started
chatting. Daniel Ayala did not look Hispanic, but was, and we eventually realized we
had a friend in common, who else but the famous editor of Somos Primos:
Mimi Lozano.

Well, with that in our plate of conversation, plus the PBS
documentary on the war that excluded Hispanics, the Gabaldon feat
rounding up Japanese on his own, we ended up having lunch together.
Since I was running late, Daniel Ayala kindly drove me to my meeting,
so now I have a new
friend in DC.

Back from my meeting, I went out
walking and passing by St. Mathew’s Cathedral, I joined the crowd
waiting to attend the free concert celebrating The Feast of St. Matthew the Apostle,
Evangelist and Patron Saint of Civil Servants. The singers were the
famous "The Schola Cantorum, Festival Singers and the Chamber
Orchestra of the Cathedral, plus famous local and world Sopranos, mezzo
sopranos and a baritone". The Program: Handel’s Messiah Parts II
and III. I am fairly acquainted with the first movement, but never paid
much attention to these two movements. It was an hour and a half of
cheer joy, and when the chorus began singing: "Hallelujah! For the
Lord Omnipotent Reigneth" everyone spontaneously rose in
adoration. How could we not? Praising the Lord with that music was a
joyous occasion, tears fell from emotion, I felt so blessed to be there,
and praise the Lord in one of the world’s most magnificent
Cathedrals!!!! Wow what a moment, I still get chills remembering it. And
so ended my first day in DC. . . . this time around.

Connie is an English Language Officer and Spanish
Interpreter. She works as an independent contractor for the US Department of State
facilitating the visits of International Leaders from all over the world, that come to the US invited to experience America and meet their counterparts.

As September 16 is approaching to celebrate
Mexican Independence, in Mexico is the most celebrated event for
the country. Cinco de Mayo is not as popular in Mexico as it is in
United States. The father of the Mexican Nation and Liberator of
Mexico Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla fought bravery to gain
independence from Spain under the leadership of Ferdinand VII.

Miguel Hidalgo was born to a Criole family (any
Mexican of Spanish descent, but broadly any Mexican of pure or
predominate European ancestry) on the Corralejo Hacienda near
Penjamo, Guanajuato, on May 8, 1753. Miguel was the son of
Cristobal, a middle-class Creole background who served as the
hacienda’s administrator. Growing up in the hacienda Hidalgo
developed and early sympathy for the unskilled Indian workers.

As a young man, Miguel Hidalgo studied at the
Colegio San Nicolas in Valladolid, now Morelia. Hidalgo receiving
his Bachelor’s degree in Theology in 1773 and was ordained in
1778. Hidalgo was a Mexican priest and revolutionary rebel leader.
He is the founder of the Mexican War of Independence. As a priest,
he also had an interest in political and social issues. His first
parish where he served was in the town of Dolores, now called
Dolores Hidalgo, in a central Mexican state of Guanajuato. He
learned several indigenous languages, wrote texts in the Aztec
language and organized local communities.

Napoleon’s invasion of Spain was not accepted
in both Spain and the Americas in order to replace the authority
of the king Ferdinand VII, as he was held hostage by Napoleon in
Bayonne, France.

In 1809, Hidalgo together with Ignacio Allende,
a young officer from the town of San Miguel who was also a Creole
as well as Indians were frustrated with racism, which preferred
advance immigrant Spaniards rather that people born in Mexico to
hold political jobs. Ignacio Allende, natives of Mexico wanted to
work in the colonial administration, but saw that the jobs were
only for these immigrant Spaniards, who were taking advantage of
the Indians by mistreating them. During this time, Miguel Hidalgo
y Costilla was a priest in the Roman Catholic Church. However,
after seen people suffering in Mexico he launched a colonial
independence who was struggling against Spain that had become
oppressive.

Hidalgo troops losing the battle with only
40.000 men Hidalgo was defeated at Aculco on November 7 by General
Felix Calleja. General Ignacio Allende with more experience was
frustrated by Hidalgo who did not followed his orders, Hidalgo
turned back toward Guadalajara, Hidalgo entered Guadalajara in
triumph and able to raise his force to 100.000 soldiers. All the
city’s dignitaries and officials believed that Hidalgo
represented a better future for Mexico.

Hidalgo concentrated his entire force at
Calderon Bridge at the eastern outskirts of the city. General
Felix Calleja entered Guadalajara and Hidalgo and Allende
regrouped their forces at Zacatecas. Allende was in command and
demoted Hidalgo to a civilian post in charge of political affairs,
they heard of a new rebellion in San Antonio de Bejar, what is
today San Antonio, Texas. They moved north to join in, however
their troops were attacked in the state of Coahuila and were
turned over to the Spanish authorities.

Hidalgo was excommunicated and no longer a
priest and was known that he had two daughters out of wedlock. The
historian Miguel Miguelez remarks, "The intention was to
discredit Hidalgo by whatever means possible, and if the latter
erred in making use of religion to further the work of
independence, the former were equality guilty in employing the
same means to surpress it."

Hidalgo peasant army fought hard with bravery, the towns of San
Miguel, Celaya and Guanajuato were in war, with peaceful citizens
the victims of mob violence. In Valladolid, the courageous cannon
of the cathedral met and decided to make it a truce.

A committee whose secret plan was to obtain
independence from Spain however, through the treachery of one of
the members, the committee and its workings were exposed to the
colonial Government and the order to seize all those connected
with the plot.

On September 16, 1810, Hidalgo and Allende
received from Doña Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez (La Corregidora"
from Queretaro) a warning that the authorities were planning to
attach them. Hidalgo denounced the "Gachupines" as the
Spaniards were called, a term for the Spanish born overlords.
Hidalgo openly declared for Independence on September 16, 1810 the
day which his forces most of them Indians, who joined him along
the line of march and selecting he banner of the Virgin of
Guadalupe for his standard, marching to the city in Guanajuato.

El "Grito de Dolores" was the name
given to Hidalgo’s cry for independence that took place on
September 16, 1810. "The shout from Dolores" and the
"Cry for Pain" that Spanish rule caused the people of
Mexico. He demanded the exile or arrest of all Spaniards in
Mexico.

Quote: "My children, this
day comes to us a new dispensation. Are you ready to receive it?
Will you be free? Will you make the effort to recover from the
hated Spaniards the lands stolen from your forefathers three
hundred years ago?"

- Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla. September 16, 1810

Hidalgo rang the church bell to gather his
congregation calling out, "¡Viva la Virgen de Guadalupe!
¡Viva Fernando
VII! ¡Abajo el mal gobierno!"
(Long live Our lady of Guadalupe and the king Fernando
VII! Down with the bad government!
Hidalgo tried to take over the government after this speech but
eventually defeated.

.

Miguel Hidalgo captured on
March 21, 1811 and
executed on July 30, 1811

The four leaders of the revolution, Hidalgo,
Allende as well as Jimenez and Aldama held in the Chihuahua
Federal Palace. (Palacio Federal) Miguel Hidalgo was executed by
firing squad on July 30, 1811. Hidalgo expressed regret for the
bloodshed unleashed by the revolt but remained firm on is
conviction that Mexico had to be free. The corpses of the four
leader's decapitated bodies were taken to Chihuahua as a way to
scare off the insurgents.

Miguel Hidalgo y Costilla was a war hero, who
fought against the injustices of the Spaniards against Indians and
Creoles in Mexico.

Mexico finally won its independence. Hidalgo
body was disinterred from his burial in the San Francisco Temple
in Chihuahua and re-buried in Mexico City after the Independence
was finally gain.

Monuments, schools, streets etc., are named after Hidalgo
including statue in the state of Guanajuato. Dolores Hidalgo a
city in Guanajuato carries his name toHonor Miguel Hidalgo.

Hidalgo is remembered today as the "Father of the Mexican
Nation" and "Liberator of Mexico".

After a decade long of struggle, the Spanish
Viceroy recognized Mexico’s Independence in 1821. Since the late
19th century, a re-enactment has become a tradition in
Mexico. The President of Mexico rings Hidalgo’s bell now at the
National Palace on the Zócalo in Mexico City and repeats Hidalgo’s
words every year at 11.00 p.m. on the night of September 15. On
the following day, September 16, a military parade starts in the
Zócalo and ends at Paseo de la Reforma in Mexico City.

In the aftermath of the Mexican revolution,
Mexico’s Departamento de la Estadística Nacional
administered a census that would be unique among Mexico’s census
counts administered between 1895 and 2005. In this new census, the
Mexican Government decided to ask Mexicans about their perception
of their own racial heritage. In the 1921 census, residents of the
Mexican Republic were asked if they fell into one of the following
categories:

The results were a remarkable reflection of
México’s own perception of its indigenous and mestizo
identities. Although only three states had more than 50% pure
indigenous populations (Oaxaca, Puebla and Tlaxcala), a total of
eight states had more than 40% of the same classification (Oaxaca,
Puebla, Tlaxcala, Chiapas, Guerrero, Campeche, Yucatán, and
México).

The five states with the largest populations of "indígena
pura" were:

The Most Indigenous State: Oaxaca

The most indigenous state, in terms of absolute
numbers and percentage was Oaxaca, in which 675,119 persons out of
976,005 inhabitants were classified as indígena. In effect, this
meant that 69.17% of Oaxaca’s population had a pure indigenous
identity.

Not all of "pure indigenous"
population of Oaxaca, however, spoke indigenous languages. Only
482,478 individuals five years of age or more spoke thirty
indigenous languages. This represented 49.43% of the population
five years of age and older and 57.18% of the entire state
population. [Children up to the age of four in indigenous
households were not included in the tally of languages.]

Another 274,752 residents of Oaxaca described
themselves as "mezclada," representing an additional
28.1% of the population. The combination of the indigenous and
mezclada categories represented 949,871 individuals who had
possessed some element of indigenous descent and represented
97.32% of the entire state population.

As a matter of contrast, only 13,910 persons
were categorized as "blanca," while another 11,124 did
not claim a designation and 1,100 were "extranjeros"
(foreigners).

The Second Most Indigenous State: Puebla

The State of Puebla had the second largest
"pure indigenous" population, with 560.971 (who
represented 54.73% of the entire state population). In addition,
403,221 residents of Puebla were classified as mezclada,
representing another 39.34% of the population. Puebla had the
sixth largest number of mezclada inhabitants. Combining the pure
indigenous with the mezclada element, we can estimate that 964,192
persons were of some indigenous origin, representing 94.07% of the
total state population of 1,024,955.

As with Oaxaca, however, a smaller element of
the population spoke native tongues. In all, 247,392 individuals
five years of age and older spoke a wide range of indigenous
languages, representing only 24.14% of the entire state
population.

Puebla had a much higher number of blanca
residents: a total of 58,032 inhabitants, who made up 5.66% of the
state population.

The Third Most Indigenous State: Veracruz

Veracruz has the third largest "indígena
pura" population with 406,638, representing 35.06% of the
state population. Veracruz also had the fourth-highest number of
mezclada residents: 556,472 (or 47.97%). Combining the two
indigenous classifications, we observed that 963,110 persons out
of a total population of 1,110,971 claimed some indigenous descent
and that this group represented 86.69% of the state population.

In striking contrast, however, only 120,746
residents of Veracruz spoke indigenous languages, representing
10.87% of the state population and 12.62% of residents five years
of age or more.

The Fourth Most Indigenous State: México

The State of México had the fourth largest
indígena pura population, 372,703, equal to 42.13% of the state
population. Together with the mestizo/mezclada population, which
numbered 422,001 (47.70% of the state population), the total
population with an indigenous heritage was 794,704, or 89.84% of
the population.

In stark contrast, only 172,863 residents of the
State of México spoke indigenous languages, representing only
19.54% of the total state population.

Other states with significant numbers of
indígena pura population are as follows:

5. Guerrero - 248,526 persons (43.84%)

6. Hidalgo – 245,704 persons (39.49%)

7. Chiapas – 200.927 persons (47.64%)

8. Jalisco – 199,728 persons (16.76%)

9. Michoacán – 196,726 persons (20.93%)

10. Distrito Federal– 169,820 (18.75%)

11. Yucatán – 155,155 persons (43.31%)

12. San Luis Potosí – 136,365 persons
(30.60%)

13. Tlaxcala – 97,670 persons (54.70%)

Because the populations of the various states
vary widely, the percentage of pure indigenous persons in a given
state provide us with a different set of results. The contrast
between absolute numbers and percentages of the pure indigenous
population was largely contingent on the population of each state.
For example, Tlaxcala actually had the third largest percentage of
indígena pura inhabitants but, because of its small population,
was in thirteenth place in terms of percentage.

And Jalisco’s largely pure indigenous
population of 199,728 represented only 16.76% of its total
population of 1,191,957. Jalisco, as a matter of fact, had the
largest population of any state in México, followed closely by
Veracruz (1,159,935), Puebla (1,024,955) and the Distrito Federal
(906,063).

States With the Largest "Indígena Mezclada
Con Blanca" Population

In the 1921 census, the status "Indígena
Mezclada con Blanca" implied that a person was of mestizo
origin. Persons classified by this identity probably did not speak
Indian languages, but still felt an attachment to their indigenous
roots and probably had indigenous facial features.. The eight
Mexican states with the largest populations of "Indígena
Mezclada con Blanca" were:

1. Jalisco - 903,830 (75.83%)

2. Guanajuato - 828,724 (96.33%)

3. Michoacán - 663,391 (70.59%)

4. Veracruz - 556,472 (47.97%)

5. Distrito Federal - 496,359 (54.78%)

6. México – 422,001 (47.71%)

7. Puebla – 403,221 (39.34%)

8. Sinaloa – 335,474 (98.30%)

9. Zacatecas – 326,615 (86.10%)

10. Hidalgo – 320,250 (51.47%)

In terms of percentages, the states with the
largest mezclada population were Sinaloa (98.30%), Guanajuato
(96.32%), Durango (89.10%), Zacatecas (86.10%), and Querétaro
(80.15%).

The State With the Largest Mezclada Population:
Jalisco

As with the other classifications, the
percentage of "indígena mezclada con blanca" in each
state varied widely because of the level of assimilation and the
states’ overall population. For Jalisco, the large number of
mestizos in the state was a reflection of Jalisco’s mestizaje
over the centuries. The combination of Jalisco’s mezclada and
indígena pura populations (903,830 and 199,728) indicated that
92.58% of Jalisco’s total population (1,103,558 out of 1,191,957
people) had an indigenous background. In addition, 87,103
residents of Jalisco claimed to be White (7.31%).

Although the inhabitants of Jalisco had a strong
link to their indigenous origins, only 195 persons in the entire
state spoke indigenous languages. Two languages dominated within
this small group of indigenous speakers (99 Huichol speakers and
81 Náhuatl speakers).

Guanajuato: The Second Largest Mezclada
Population

Guanajuato was settled early in the colonial
period and underwent mestizaje at an early date. 828,724 of
Guanajuato’s population of 860,364 classified themselves as
indígena mezclada con blanca, representing 96.33% of the state
population. Only 25,458 persons claimed pure indigenous background
(representing 2.96%) of the population and another 4,687
classified themselves as blanca. In contrast, only 220 inhabitants
of Guanajuato spoke indigenous languages. [All but one of these
indigenous speakers spoke the Otomí tongue.]

Sinaloa: The State with the Largest Percentage
of Mezclada

In the 1921 Mexican census, 335,474 persons were
classified as mezclada, representing an extraordinary 98.30% of
the state population. Incredibly, a mere 3,163 people (or 0.93% of
the state population) identified themselves as pura indígena. The
number of person classified as white was smaller yet: only 644
people out of a total state population of 341,265.

Zacatecas: A State Without Indigenous Speakers

Zacatecas posed one of the most interesting
cases in this analysis. With 8.54% of its inhabitants identified
as "pura indígena" and another 86.1% classified as
mestizo, 94.64% of Zacatecas’ inhabitants identified with their
indigenous origins. At the same time, not a single inhabitant of
the state claimed to speak an indigenous language. This would lead
one to speculate that in some parts of México, persons who spoke
Indian languages may, in fact, have denied this fact.

States With the Largest Blanca Population

The states with the largest populations of
"Blanca" or White persons were:

One of the most interesting aspects of the 1921
census is that several Mexican states contained very small numbers
of Indigenous speakers but had significant populations of people
who were identified as "pura indígena." Some examples
of these states are:

Coahuila

The State of Coahuila had 44,779 individuals who
were identified as "indígena pura," representing 11.38%
of the state population. If you combined the pure indigenous and
mestizo populations, you would recognize that 89.26% of Coahuila’s
population had some kind of indigenous heritage. However, in the
entire state of 393,480 inhabitants, only 293 persons spoke an
indigenous language. [All of these indigenous speakers spoke the
Kikapóo language.]

Tamaulipas

Tamaulipas presented a similar issue. In 1921,
39,606 inhabitants of the state were recognized as of pure
indigenous background, representing 13.80% of the population. The
combined "indígena pura" and mestizo population was
calculated at 83.16%. However, in the entire state only 237
persons spoke more than 15 indigenous languages, of which only one
(Huasteca) was actually native to the State.

San Luis Potosí

San Luis Potosí, with large indigenous areas in
its eastern regions, boasted a total "indígena pura"
population of 136,365, which represented 30.6% of the state
population. With a mestizo population tallied at 61.88%, the
combined percentage of persons with some indigenous origins was
92.48%. However, only 1,738 inhabitants of the state claimed to
speak one of the state’s six indigenous languages (Huasteco,
Mayo, Mazateco, Náhuatl, Otomí and Totonaco).

The 1921 census figures for each state were published in
individual volumes by state. Each volume was published by the
Departamento de la Estadística Nacional between 1927 and 1929
under the titles of "Resumen del Censo General de
Habitantes de 30 de Noviembre de 1921."

About the Author

John Schmal is the coauthor of "The
Indigenous Roots of a Mexican-American Family" (available as
item M2469 through Heritage Books at http://heritagebooks.com).
Recently, he also published "The Journey to Latino
Political Representation" (available as item S4114).

Since I started this blog and because I have been investing so much
time reading, writing, learning and talking about Cuba, some people
have been teasing me. I knew this would happen eventually.

Now, instead of asking me "Claudia, why do you care so much about
Cuba?" they say, "So, do you want to be Cuban now?"
"No, I am proud and content being Italian-American," I
always say, "and I do not want to, nor could I ever be,
Cuban." Although many Cubans whom I have encountered as a result
of my blog have bestowed upon me the lofty title of "honorary
Cuban," I truly am not worthy of it.

It's not that I don't appreciate the richness of the Cuban culture.
It's not that I wouldn't like to claim the same heritage as artists
such as Andy Garcia, Paquito D'Rivera, Arturo Sandoval, Desi Arnaz and
Celia Cruz.

It's not that I wouldn't be proud to say my lineage is the same as
luminaries in the world of writing like Guillermo Cabrera Infante,
Oscar Hijuelos, Cristina Garcia and José Martí, or intellectuals
like Carlos Eire and Antonio de la Cova.

It's not that I wouldn't like to be able to cook Ropa Vieja, Maduros,
Vaca Frita and Congri to perfection every time I try. It's also not
because I wouldn't love to be able to lay claim to a culturally rich
community in South Florida, full of people just like myself, who share
the same history and heritage.

It's certainly not because I wouldn't want to say that my family is
part of a group of over 125,000 Cuban-owned businesses in the US that
genera te billions and billions of dollars in sales annually. Could it
be because I would not want to be associated with a culture that is
responsible for creating Salsa music or the lively steps of the Mambo
or the Cha-cha? Of course not.

So with all of these contributions to the world for which Cubans are
responsible, why would I not want to be Cuban? Aren't I practically
Cuban already? I mean, I'm of Italian descent, they're largely of
Spanish descent; Italian and Spanish both come from Latin. My mother's
side is from Sicily- that's an island, like Cuba is. Italians and
Cubans have similar family values and traditions. Italy has produced
many artists, writers, scientists and entertainers and so has Cuba. It
wouldn't be much of a stretch. Except that's pretty much where the
similarities end.

I could not be Cuban because I don't have the guts. I could not bear
to see so many of "my people" suffer the way the Cubans have
for almost 50 years. I am in awe of Cuban-Americans and the dangerous
and brave ways in which they have managed to leave the island. I get
choked up every time I read about a raft-load of Cubans making it to
land in Florida. I give a little cheer for them. However, I could not
do something as courageous as that, and I don't have the stamina to
watch it happen to my own compatriots. No, I could not be a Cuban.

I couldn't be Cuban because I'm not strong enough. If I were here in
the US, I could not bear to think of my family members still trapped
in that island prison with run-down living quarters, not enough to
eat, and no chance to improve their lives. I could not bear the
thought of never seeing my family members again; the ones who didn't
want to leave with me, or could not. I do not know where
Cuban-Americans get their fortitude from to be able to look ahead to
the future and to persevere under such dismal circumstances but I do
know that perseverance is not one of my character traits. I don't know
with what I could fill the hole in my heart to stop the pain of not
having my family with me, and I don't know how Cubans do it. So, no, I
could not be a Cuban.

I could never be Cuban because I am not ingenious enough. Cubans are
the Latin American MacGyvers- they make sandals out of plastic bottles
and boats out of cars and trucks. I can't even figure out how to work
the DVD player with cable tv. Cubans both here and on the island have
a spirit of entrepreneurship and practical understanding, qualities
both driven by the will to survive. A taxi driver in Cuba is savy
enough to negotiate a fare in advance and turn off the meter so he can
make a little extra money; bakers will water down the bread dough to
stretch it and sell the extra loaves on their own. Cubans came here
and not ones to be satisfied with indefinitely living off the helping
hands they are offered, they make their own way, work menial jobs and
build their own businesses. And not just a few little businesses,
thousands upon thousands of them.

That perseverance on the island keeps them alive and in the United
States, helps them to attain a dream. Me? I give up on the DVD player
and watch Lifetime. I'm a quitter; I could never be a Cuban.

I could not be a Cuban because Cubans do not know what freedom is. I
enjoy freedom of speech, the freedom to complain, to use the internet,
to visit any hotel I can afford, to dine as frequently or
infrequently-- anywhere I would like, to watch whatever television
show I want and to read whatever I want. The government does not
"own" my brain (and probably wouldn't want it) just because
it subsidized my Pennsylvania state college education. If I want to
leave the country, I can. And, I can take my brain with me. With that
in mind, I still don't want to be a Cuban.

I couldn't be Cuban because in spite of what Michael Moore says, the
Cuban healthcare system is a joke. I don't have to wait in line to go
to the doctor or the hospital. I don't have to worry about the
sanitary conditions of the local hospital or count the bugs crawling
around on the floor. I don't have to go to run-down facilities while
Canadians and Europeans travel to my country for treatment in
state-of-the-art facilities where I am not allowed to be treated. I
don't have to do without medication because there is a shortage, while
foreigners get whatever they need. While the US healthcare system is
not perfect, I can't complain. I have had six surgeries, countless
injections, physical therapy, orthopedic devices and medications on my
right knee to prevent me from having to have total joint replacement
before I am fifty. My medication, because I have a good job and
insurance, costs me a few dolla rs per prescription and is available
whenever I need it. The cost of treatment for just my right knee so
far is in the tens of thousands-I've paid a few hundred in co-pays. My
doctor's visits, again because I have good insurance, cost $10. I've
been lucky enough to have the same doctors, who knows me and my case
well, treat my knee for the past twenty years and I don't have to
worry about them being sent to Venezuela in exchange for oil. So,
nope. Neither my knee nor I could be Cuban.

I could not be Cuban because there is no better place in the world to
live, in my opinion, than the United States. Cubans, sadly, can no
longer say that, since although before the revolution, the once
beautiful and prosperous Cuba received over one million immigrants in
a thirty-two year period, Cubans will now risk their lives to leave.
Furthermore, nobody is fleeing TO Cuba. That tells me that there are
much better places to live than Cuba. If I were Cuban, knowing that
would break my heart, especially if I had been around before Fidel
Castro destroyed the island.

So, I'm sorry, but although I accept the "honorary Cuban"
title with pride, in reality, I could never cut it as a Cuban. I'm
just not qualified.